SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball fell 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-17) Saturday afternoon to Point Loma Nazarene University at the Conlan Center.
Senior libero
Samantha Brown made several impressive defensive plays for the Penguins (1-18, 1-9 PacWest) and finished with a team-high 14 digs. The Sea Lions (12-7, 8-3 PacWest) were led by Bailey Williams' 11 kills.
The first set began with the teams trading point to an 8-8 tie, but Lauren Phillips sparked a 4-0 run with a dump-set kill and added two assists in the run to give PLNU some breathing room. Williams then found the floor on a pair of kills to power a 5-0 run that pushed the Sealion lead to 17-9. PLNU was able to continue to add to its lead down the stretch with Grace Hicks and Alexis Soncrant combining for a block to take the first set 25-12.
After falling behind early in the second set, freshman outside hitter
Devon Condie combined with junior middle
Edee Leslie for a block to give Dominican some momentum and senior setter
Haley Frederking followed with a dump-set kill as the Penguins took the 10-9 lead on a 4-0 run. The teams began to trade points until Torina Hommes found the floor on back-to-back kills to cap a 3-point run that gave the Sea Lions the 17-13 advantage. Dominican battled back once again as Condie and Leslie each had kills before combining for another block to tie the set at 19, but errors helped PLNU retake the lead on a 3-0 run to answer. Dominican fended off two set points to get back within one, but Claire Smith gave the Sea Lions the victory with the kill to take the 2-0 lead in the match.
Errors hurt the Penguins once again in the third set as the Sea Lions were able to use them during a 6-1 run to take an early 11-5 lead. Dominican slowly chipped away at its deficit as sophomore middle
Amani Abed combined with Leslie for a block to cut the lead to 17-14, but once again PLNU had the answer with Williams capping a 3-0 run with a kill to extend the lead back to six. The Penguins were unable to close down the stretch as the Sea Lions held on for the sweep.
Dominican will return to the court Friday as it travels to Belmont to take on Academy of Art at Walter Gleason Gymnasium at 6 p.m. PDT.
