HONOLULU — Hawai'i Pacific University suffered a 3-0 sweep by Dominican (Calif.) in PacWest Conference play on Saturday night at St. Andrew's Priory's James Castle Gym.
 
The Sharks (7-13, 5-7) dropped the straight sets to the Penguins (7-12, 6-5) 18-25, 15-25, 22-25.
 
"This was a really disappointing loss," said head coach Jenic Tumaneng. "We really need to get back in the gym and work to play as a team."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 
The Sharks hit .120 for the match, while collecting 5.0 team blocks. The Penguins hit .309 with 7.0 team blocks.
 
Junior right side hitter Kayla Demari of Dana Point, Calif./JSerra Catholic, led the Sharks with eight kills and a .231 hitting percentage, while sophomore outside hitter Perla Escobar of Calexico, Calif./Calexico, posted seven kills.
 
Dominican got 12 kills and a .500 hitting percentage from Cat Thomason, while Aimee Steinwand posted 11 kills with four blocks and Kate Even notched 11 kills with a .400 hitting percentage and three blocks.
 
The Sharks opened the match with an early lead, but the Penguins went on a 4-0 run to take the set lead. HPU closed to within 21-20, but Dominican got a 3-0 run for a 24-20 lead and held on for the 25-22 win.
 
The second set HPU held a brief lead and kept the set close, pulling to 11-10 on a block by Alyson Brunner and Chandler Lippencott. That's when the Penguins answered to take control of the set with a dominating 8-0 run. The Sharks never answered as Dominican got a kill from Thomason to win 25-15.
 
The most competitive set was the third, as the team combined for five ties and three lead changes. Dominican's 4-0 rally midway through the set put the Penguins on top, but HPU continued to nip at their heels and got within one at 21-20 on a Demari kill. Dominican followed with a 3-0 rally and when HPU scored twice to pull within two, the Penguins took an advantage of a Shark attack error to win the set and the match 25-22.
 
HPU has time to work in the gym as the Sharks are off until next Saturday when it hosts Concordia Irvine (Calif.) in a 6 p.m. match at St. Andrew's Priory.