SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball showed a lot of heart in the second set but ultimately fell short in a 25-15, 25-20, 25-11 loss Saturday afternoon to Point Loma Nazarene University at the Conlan Center.
Gabi Maiocco had a great all around day, finishing with three kills, 15 assists, an ace and a solo block for the Penguins.
Jasmine Heyward added five kills while
Vanna Marquez finished with 12 digs. Abigail Nua led the Sea Lions with 15 kills and two blocks.
Nua made her impact felt from the first serve, opening the first set with three straight kills and Courtney Dyer served up an ace to cap a 4-0 run. Dominican withstood the early run and charged back on a 4-0 run of their own highlighted by kills from
Ella Heckman and
Avery Maddox to tie the set at 7-7. The Sea Lions broke out of the back and forth set with a 7-1 run on the back of some strong defense from Grace Hicks who collected two block assists and a solo block during the run to take a 15-10 advantage. It was all the breathing room they would need as they pulled away down the stretch to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set started much as the first with a seesaw battle of small runs between the teams. Heyward helped answer a 3-0 PLNU run with back-to-back kills to spark a 3-point run for Dominican to keep the set within one.
Sophia Hull then helped Dominican tie the match up 11-11 with some strong serving resulting in an ace and an easy kill for
Amani Abed off an overpass on the reception. Things looked bleak for the Penguins after a 6-0 PLNU run made it 19-13, but
Sara Hiebert combined with Heckman for a block before finding the floor on a kill to quickly cut the deficit back to two. The Sea Lions held on from there to take the second set 25-20.
Maddox had a strong start the third set for the Penguins with a kill and an ace to give them the one-point advantage early, but Bailey Williams had three kills and Nua added a pair of aces during a 6-0 run that gave PLNU the lead for good. Point Loma was able to pull away from Dominican down the stretch to secure the sweep.
The Penguins head to Southern California to take on Azusa Pacific on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT to begin a two game road swing.
