SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball fell 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 to Biola Thursday night at the Conlan Center.
Ella Heckman led the Penguins with nine kills and a service ace, while
Edee Leslie added six kills on a .267 hitting percentage. Anna Aubele led the Eagles with 12 kills and two aces.
Heckman came ready to play for Dominican as she recorded the first three kills of the match helping to engineer a 4-0 run to grab an early 5-2 lead. Biola slowly chipped away at the lead tying the set at 8-8 after three consecutive points. After trading several points, Kendall Vandertuig powered a 6-0 run with a kill, an ace and an assist on the final kill of the run to give the Eagles a 16-12 lead. Dominican closed quickly back within one as Heckman began a 4-1 run with a kill and ended it with an ace. After trading points once again, Leslie found the floor through hands to tie the match 20-20, with Heckman having a kill and
Sophia Hull serving up an ace on the opposite side of another 4-1 run which gave the Penguins a 22-21 lead. Errors assisted Biola on a 3-0 run to retake the lead and Aubele ended the set with a kill to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead in the match.
Biola continued to hold the momentum going into the second set as they opened on a 6-2 run capped by an Emily Smith kill. Three straight errors brought the Penguins back within one and Maiocco assisted both
Avery Schneider and
Amani Abed on back-to-back blocks during a 3-0 run that tied the set 8-8. The teams traded points with the Eagles holding a small advantage until Abigail Copeland had two kills and Aubele added two aces in a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 19-13. Dominican scored the next three points, but Biola was able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the set to take the 25-18 victory.
Dominican started well in the third set as Heckman kicked off a 4-0 run early to take the 4-2 lead, but Biola answered reeling off five straight to retake the advantage. The Eagles added to their lead with more long runs reaching a high of 12 at 23-11 as they went on to secure the sweep.
Dominican will take a break from conference play to face Stanislaus State at 7 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center.
