BELMONT, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball recorded its first victory of the season Friday afternoon sweeping Academy of Art 25-12, 25-11, 25-23 at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.
 
Senior outside hitter Catherine Johnson led the Penguins (1-2) with 12 kills and a .455 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Mariah Ahid added nine kills and four block assists, while senior setter Rebecca Smith led the team with 21 assists. Ashley Mecham led the Urban Knights (0-3) with 14 kills and eight digs.
 
After ART U got off to a strong start taking a 3-1 lead, Johnson took over for Dominican with back-to-back kills before Ahid followed suit with two kills of her own to power a 6-0 run and take a 4-point lead. After Ashley Pawlak found the court for an ace to cut the lead to two, the Penguins took advantage of several Urban Knight errors and sophomore middle blocker Kiana Pelton added two kills in an 8-1 run to take the 18-9 advantage. Johnson ended one last Dominican run with a powerful kill to push the lead to double digits and the Penguins cruised to a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Dominican built on its momentum to start the second set as Ahid began to frustrate ART U at the net with two blocks to go with a pair of kills in a an 11-1 run to take the nine point lead out of the gates. After trading points for several minutes, sophomore middle blocker Edee Leslie sparked the Penguins with back-to-back kills as they ended the set on a 6-0 run to take the 25-11 set victory.
 
After the Urban Knights took advantage of several early Dominican errors for the 4-2 lead, the Penguins went on a 6-1 run capped by two kills from senior middle blocker Eleni Loizou to retake the 8-5 lead. Leslie and Ahid then combined for a block and Dominican took advantage of unforced errors from ART U to push the lead to four near the halfway mark of the set. The Urban Knights battled back slowly and Mecham tied the set 18-18 with a kill, but errors continued to derail ART U as a 4-1 run gave the Penguins a narrow 3-point lead. Dominican held on and Johnson capped off the 25-23 set victory with a kill to secure the sweep.
 
The Penguins will return home Friday to face Fresno Pacific at 4 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Recreation Center. Live coverage information will be available on our schedule page.