SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's volleyball secured its first sweep since the COVID-shortened Spring 2021 season defeating Westmont 25-14, 25-23, 26-24 Saturday afternoon at the Conlan Center.

"I want to thank this entire group of girls," Dominican head coach Tim Loesch said. "They started the turnaround this year and are building a true foundation for us going forward. "

Ella Heckman led the Penguins (6-20, 5-15 PacWest) with 12 kills and a block assist, while Ashlyn Daugherty added seven kills, two aces and a solo block. Avery Schneider had a fantastic overall game with seven kills and five block assists for Dominican who finished with a season high .279 hitting percentage. Alexis Dennick led the Warriors (14-13, 9-11 PacWest) with eight kills and three block assists.

Avery Scheider powered the Penguins early as she stood tall on defense with two block assists while finding the court for a kill to open up with a 4-0 lead. The Warriors battled back and tied the match 7-7 with a 4-point burst of its own, but a bad set followed by Ashlyn Daugherty's kill pushed the lead back to two. 

Dominican expanded the lead again with another 4-0 run as Kali Young found the court for an ace with Reagan Macha put down a kill and Daugherty had a solo block to make it 13-8. Daugherty continued her strong opening set with a kill and an ace to lead a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 20-11. Ella Heckman slammed the door shut on any comeback attempt with a block assist and two kills down the stretch as the Penguins took a 1-0 lead in the match.

Westmont was able to build an early lead in the second set as Rylee Elias served up an ace to make it 9-4. Daugherty and Heckman  continued their momentum from the first set as Heckman found the floor on a pair of kills and Daugherty had a kill and an ace to push cut the deficit to two on a 4-1 run. Camille Rivers then capped a 4-0 run with an ace to give the Penguins a 12-11 lead. Daugherty and Heckman found the floor on back-to-back kills in a 3-point burst that extended the Dominican advantage to four, but the Warriors scored the next four to tie the set 19-19. 

A pair of Westmont errors swung the momentum back to the Penguins and Heckman and Young found the floor for a kill each to push the lead to 23-20. The Warriors closed back within one and fended off one set point before Schneider sealed the victory with a nice swing after a dig on a block set her up perfectly in the middle for the 2-0 lead in the match.

Macha began to settle into a groove in the third set as she combined with Schneider on a block before adding a solo block and two more kills as Dominican sprinted out to an 8-3 lead. The Warriors used some Penguin miscues to close the gap back to three, but a pair of their own errors helped push the lead back to five. Westmont slowly closed the gap back to three as Dennick and Sara Krueger combined for a block. Valerie Coward followed a block by Audrey Hyde and Taylor Distelberg with a service ace to close back within one, but an error and a kill by Heckman made it 20-17 heading down the stretch. 

Distelberg had a kill and an ace to spark a 3-point burst that tied the set 20-20. Alexa Shiner served up an ace to give the Warriors a 22-21 lead to continue the gradual climb. A ball handling error after a Penguin timeout stopped the run and Rein Bocage found the floor on an ace to retake the lead with Kali Young finding the floor on a kill to get to set point. Westmont battled off two consecutive match points to keep the match going, but Daugherty hit it off the tape to cause a tough dig by the Warriors that went over the scorer's table to get back to match point. Melena Wong subbed in for the ensuing serve and sent a perfect serve that quickly found its way to the court between two defenders for an ace to secure the victory.

Dominican will look to build on its improvements this season in Loesch's second season at the helm next fall.