BELMONT, Calif. – Back-and-forth Pacific West Conference action inside Walter Gleason Gym ultimately culminated in a 3-1 (25-18, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20) victory for Academy of Art volleyball over Dominican with every Urban Knight making important contributions to the win. Freshman outside hitter Ashley Mecham's 11th double-double of the season (19 kills, 17 digs) was one of numerous highlights from ART U on the Friday evening.

Following a 9-9 tie in the opening frame, the Penguins rattled off six of the next seven points, but were met with three straight from Academy of Art then a truly impressive 10-0 run. The push included multiple kills from both freshman outside hitter Katherine Von Kraut and senior middle blocker/opposite Sadie Emery as well as a block combining the two. Kills by Emery and redshirt junior outside hitter Celena Davison came down the stretch toward a 25-18 result favoring ART U.

Dominican responded by grabbing an 11-5 lead to open the second set, but the margin was soon just three points at 14-11 as junior setter Picabo Reinhold delivered a service ace then set up junior middle blocker Jillian Wheaton for a kill. The Penguins continued to stay in front though they again faced a Knights comeback when Mecham sent down a kill to make it 21-18. In the end, four consecutive scores by the visitors earned them a 25-18 win to even the sets.

Although Dominican looked to be shifting the match's momentum up 10-6 beginning the third, ART U's 5-2 push back kept things close. A huge turn happened with the Penguins up 18-14 as 11 of the set's final 16 points were credited to Academy of Art including two blocks by Wheaton and Von Kraut then three kills by the latter to close the 25-23 thriller.

Finding themselves up 10-6 thanks to kills from four different Knights, ART U kept its foot on the gas pedal in the fourth frame. A strong stretch with three kills from Davison forced a 17-12 score and while Dominican battled back, Academy of Art never relinquished the lead with a 4-0 run that saw Mecham deliver two kills plus a solo block. Mecham remained on fire to close the night as her three kills came prior to a Wheaton exclamation point at 25-20.

ART U rises to 6-14 overall and 3-9 in conference play with Friday's victory. The second-highest kill total of the season (63) was a product of Mecham's aforementioned career-high-tying 19 put-aways (plus three blocks) as well as Von Kraut's 14 kills and 13 from Davison. Reinhold collected her seventh double-double of the year with a season-high 55 assists and 11 digs, Wheaton led her squad with five blocks, and freshman libero Elena Torres' 26 digs paced the Knights en route to their second-highest dig total of the year (85).

Now 1-19 on the season and 1-10 in PacWest action, Dominican was led by Tiff Wong's 13 kills and 19 digs.

Academy of Art will be back inside Walter Gleason Gym for a 2 p.m. matchup with Holy Names tomorrow afternoon..