HILO, Hawaii – Thursday's start to Pacific West Conference play was an incredibly exciting and memorable one for Academy of Art volleyball. Inside Vulcan Gymnasium for two matches in three days on the Hawaiian Islands, the Urban Knights battled back against a two-set deficit to triumph over UH Hilo by a final score of 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 27-25, 25-21, 15-12) thanks in large part to a quartet delivering eight or more kills apiece and the fourth-most team service aces in program history.

"The goal this year was to have a more balanced, spread out attack and we certainly saw that to close out tonight's match," said Head Coach Mike Gomez. "Our defense really stepped up in a big way going into set three and we never looked back."

Following a 10-4 run for the Vulcans to begin the night's action, freshman outside hitter Kerrigan Habing and graduate student middle blocker/outside hitter Fina Tuinauvai sent down kills to cut down the margin and Habing then delivered back-to-back put-aways to make the score 17-12 in favor of the home team. Down the stretch, a 6-2 push ended the opening set with UH Hilo on top 25-17.

Though a kill from sophomore outside hitter Paola Divis and a sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Alohi Garcia service ace tied up the second set at 8-8, the Vulcans soon separated with a 6-1 burst. The UH Hilo margin held up, despite graduate student opposite Claire Ricard's service ace that cut it to 18-17, and materialized in the form of a 25-20 victory.

The third set was knotted up at seven and eight apiece before the Vulcans executed a 7-1 run to build a 15-9 advantage that Academy of Art steadily worked back down to even at 23-23. Kills by Habing, Alohi Garcia, and a service ace from freshman libero/defensive specialist Kyriah Trefren brought the first of what would be three ties in the frame's late stages all ahead of the finishing touches on a 27-25 win by way of junior right side/middle blocker Katherine Von Kraut kill and another service ace by Ricard.

Tuinauvai had two of ART U's four kills to start the fourth set then sophomore libero LC-Reece Nakagawa provided back-to-back service aces for a 10-5 lead. Handling the Vulcans' brief comeback, the Knights proceeded to regain their advantage on an emphatic combined block from Von Kraut and Ricard at 17-12. The home team threatened once more by cutting its deficit to 23-20, but senior setter Elly McInerney found Ricard for another kill and soon the 25-21 result was in hand.

In the decisive fifth set, Academy of Art immediately went up 4-0 on three service aces by McInerney and a block joining Ricard and Tuinauvai. The Vulcans bounced back on their home floor, soon tying things up five times thereafter only to see the Knights rattle off five of the final seven points on multiple blocks, a Nakagawa service ace, and two Habing kills for the 15-12 win.

"It was disciplined and resilient team volleyball to pull out the reverse sweep," Gomez said. "A real gritty performance from one through 12 on our team tonight."

ART U opens PacWest play at 1-0 and 2-7 overall as Habing bettered her previous season high with 18 kills to lead all hitters. Alohi Garcia added 13 kills to tie her season-best and nine digs while Ricard finished with 10 kills plus six digs, six blocks (one solo, five assisted), and four service aces. McInerney's first double-double of the year featured new season-highs of 46 assists and 13 digs as well as four service aces. Nakagawa had a season-best 23 digs and three service aces to help give the Knights 13 in total which tied for fourth-most in program history.

UH Hilo, now 5-6 overall and 0-1 in conference action, was paced by 14 kills from Taylor Tullo along with a 20-assist, 22-dig double-double for Maya Imoto-Eakin.

This brief Hawaii trip for Academy of Art will conclude on Saturday at Hawaii Pacific with a 6 p.m. HT (9 p.m. PT) first serve in Honolulu.