Box Score

Honolulu, HI --- The Academy of Art University women's volleyball team gave everything they had against a very solid Hawaii Pacific University team tonight at St. Andrews Priory. Unfortunately for ART U, they came up a bit short, dropping the match in four sets (32-34, 21-25, 25-22, 12-15). The Sea Warriors narrowly escaped with the victory that bumped them up to 17-5 overall and 11-4 in conference. The loss drops the Urban Knights to 7-6 in PacWest play and 13-11 overall.

Game one was one for the record books, as the Urban Knights participated in their longest set to date. The match started out like any other, ART U scored the first point of the match and they were off. It was a back and forth battle until midway through the set when HPU started to widen the gap over the Knights. The Sea Warriors went up by as many as four, 19-15, en route to the victory. The Urban Knights, however, rallied back to tie the score at 22 a piece. The back and forth battle would continue until a kill by the Sea Warriors brought the set to a close, 32-34. Amy Bush registered five of her 11 kills in the first set alone.

HPU narrowly squeezed out a victory in set two. Despite 13 ties and eight lead changes, it was the Urban Knights who maintained the lead for a majority of the set. With the score tied 14-14, the Sea Warriors took their first lead since the first play and never looked back. The Urban Knights would keep it within one point and tie the game a final time at 21, but two back to back errors by ART U gave the Sea Warriors the edge they needed to get the win, 25-21.

ART U scored a victory in the third game. As a team, the Urban Knights combined for 16 kills in the win, and hit an impressive .263. ART U scored two quick points early in the set before the Sea Warriors got on the board. HPU took a quick 8-7 lead, but ART U answered back to take the lead again. The Urban Knights gradually extended their lead over the Sea Warriors and with HPU within one point, 20-21, ART U dug deep and closed out the set, 25-22. Amy Bush and Dan Yang were very instrumental in the set win. Yang knocked down five of her 15 kills, while Bush added four.

In game four, the Urban Knights seemed to run out of gas. The Sea Warriors coasted to the 12-25 victory. With the set four win, the Sea Warriors took the match, 1-3.

Kyra Pelayo posted a team-high 20 digs for HPU and Courtney Curran added seven kills and five blocks.  It was Sanoe Recca who led all players on the court, she finished with18. While Natasha Bell posted 13 kills and 15 digs, and Pihana Kea added 45 assists.

For the Urban Knights, Dan Yang had a team high 15 kills, five digs and two block assists. Angela Heath was right behind her with 14 kills, six digs, a block solo and a block assist. Amy Bush had another stellar game, finishing with 11 kills, and four blocks (two block solos and two block assists). Melissa Cheng finished with a match high 45 assists, and Leinani Keanini out dug all the competition finishing with a match high 32 digs.

ART U wraps up their play in Hawaii with a match against Chaminade University tomorrow evening, game time is set for 7:00 PM HT.