SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball fell in its long awaited opener 16-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-19 Friday evening to Holy Names at the Conlan Recreation Center.

Senior outside hitter Catherine Johnson led the Penguins (0-1) with 14 kills and two blocks while senior Rebecca Smith finished with six kills, 19 assists and 14 digs. Lauren Sera led the Hawks (1-0) with a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs.

After the teams traded points to open up the first set, sophomore middle blocker Edee Leslie sparked a 5-1 Dominican run with back-to-back kills and then capped the run with an ace to give the Penguins a 13-11 lead. Johnson then found her swing on the outside putting down back-to-back kills of her own to start a 6-1 run to push the lead to six. Dominican capitalized on several rotation errors by the Hawks late in the set and Smith secured the 25-16 victory with a kill for the Penguins.

The Hawks were able to shake off the rust in the second set as they opened with on a 3-0 run to gain the momentum, but Dominican battled back and sophomore Mariah Ahid found the court for a kill to tie it 5-5 moments later. Sera provided HNU with the spark they needed to get back on top with a kill and a block in a 6-1 run to take a 12-8 lead. Camille Rivers helped the Hawks extend the lead to 18-12 with an ace and a kill to cap a 4-0 burst. It was all the breathing room they needed as the teams traded points until Lille Tuivailala gave HNU the 25-20 victory with a kill.

Penguin errors helped the Hawks early in the third set as they used several small runs to build an 8-4 lead. The error bug struck back as Dominican was able to slowly make its way back with Johnson scoring back-to-back kills to tie the set and a bad set capped the 4-1 run to give Dominican the 13-12 lead. Senior middle blocker Eleni Loizou and Johnson combined for a block with Loizou following it up with a kill to push the Penguin lead to 16-13 moments later as they appeared to grab the momentum. The Hawks though recovered as Saupuni Mavaega had a block and a kill to cap a 4-0 run to retake an 18-17 lead. The teams traded points to a 23-23 tie with Sierra Allen and Sera securing the set victory for the HNU with back-to-back kills.

Smith helped Dominican to a strong start with two kills to sprint ahead 5-1 in the opening minutes of the fourth set, but errors allowed the Hawks to quickly close the gap back to one. Mavaega continued her presence at the net for HNU with another block and a kill to end a 4-0 run that gave the Hawks the two point advantage. The Penguins were unable to find their offensive groove in the set as three errors helped Hawks on a 6-0 run to increase the advantage to 16-9 at the midway point of the set. Some strong blocking by Leslie late helped the Penguins close back within three but they ran out of gas as HNU held on for the 25-19 victory.

Dominican will return to action Saturday as it travels south to play Fresno Pacific at 3 p.m. PDT at the Special Events Center. Live coverage information is available on our schedule page.