SANTA ANA - The Dons lost their season opener in straight sets to visiting San Diego City College by scores of 25-22, 25-18 and 25-20. The loss drops the Dons to 0-1 to start the season while San Diego City moves to 1-0.

After the Knights scored first, Fernanda Ruiz scored the first point of the season for SAC with a kill that tied the set at 1-1. Trinh Nguyen added a kill a few points later to pull the Dons within one at 3-2. The Knights would maintain that one-point lead until a pair of Nguyen kills tied the set at 7-7 and 8-8.

Following the 8-8 tie, the Dons took their first lead of the match at 9-8 before Adabella Ruiz put the Dons up 10-8 with a kill, and again at 11-9. San Diego City would come back to tie the set at 12-12 before reclaiming the lead for good at 13-12.

The Knights would pull away to a four-point lead at 19-15 before the Dons worked their way back within one at 20-19. During that stretch, the Dons scored points on kills by Adabella Ruiz and Nguyen as well as a service ace by Madison Logan. However, the Knights would go on to win the set 25-22.

Chloe Anderson opened the second set with a kill before breaking a 2-2 tie with a service ace. The Dons would go on to build an 8-5 lead on a Logan service ace before the Knights scored three-straight to tie the set at 8-8.

The teams would go on to trade the lead for several points with Anderson, Filana Duvan, Adabella Ruiz and Logan putting SAC on top with Logan's kill making the score 16-15. The Knights, however, would come back to tie the set again at 17-17 before taking the lead for good on their way to the 25-18 win.

The third set saw the Knights jumping out to an early 10-3 lead before the Dons started slowly chipping away. The Dons would eventually pull within two points at 21-19 on an Nguyen service ace but San Diego City used a 4-1 run to close out the set, and the match, by a score of 25-20.