SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball kept it close for the majority of the match despite falling 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 Thursday night to Cal State East Bay in the opening match of the NorCal Kickoff at the Conlan Center.

Senior Vanna Marquez had a fantastic night from her libero position collecting 13 digs to go with two service aces for the Penguins. Freshman middle Avery Schneider had a big night as well for Dominican as she finished with five kills and two aces. Karis Carter led the Pioneers with nine kills on a .412 hitting percentage while Julianne Tan finished the match with 15 assists.

The Penguins got off to a strong start in the match as Schneider recorded her first ace of the night on one end of a 6-1 run while fellow freshman Kendal Kibanoff added a second to push them to a 7-3 lead. Carter sparked an 8-0 run with a kill and Megan Crecilius added a pair of aces to push CSUEB back in from 14-10. Dominican kept things close as Gabi Maiocco found the court on a dump set to cut the deficit to 21-18 late in the set but the Pioneers held on for the 1-0 lead in the match. 

The Penguins once again got off to the hot start to open the second set this time it was sophomore outside Ella Heckman leading the way with a pair of kills early to help build a 5-2 lead. Carter capped a 3-0 CSUEB run with a powerful kill off an overpass to take a brief lead but freshman outside Jasmine Heyward responded with some power of her own with a kill to keep the set tied 7-7. Marquez served up an ace and Schneider combined with Heckman for a block to highlight a 4-0 Penguin run that saw them retake the 11-8 lead. The seesaw continued as Crecelius once again caused Dominican problems from the service line to power a 5-0 run that saw the Pioneers retake a two-point lead, but Heckman capped a 4-0 Penguin with an ace to answer right back and take the 16-14 lead. CSUEB retook the lead for good on a 6-1 run to get to set point and Carter sealed the victory with a kill.

The teams traded points for most of the opening minutes of the third set until a Marquez ace and a kill from Amani Abed powered a 4-1 run to give Dominican the 13-11 lead. Schneider then found the floor on a powerful swing from the middle and Emma Hartvickson had an ace to help extend the lead to four, but Carter led a 6-0 run with two blocks and a kill to take the 18-16 lead. The set stayed tight until the closing minutes as a block by Mia Jordan sealed the victory for the Pioneers.

Dominican will return to the court for a pair of matches Friday beginning with Chico State at 1 p.m. followed by Northwest Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. PDT at the Conlan Center.