Box Score
Laie, HI -- Urban Knights women's volleyball put up a valiant effort, but fell to BYU-Hawaii 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 31-29) at the George Q. Cannon Activities Center on Wednesday night. For the second consecutive evening, junior outside hitter Dan Yang led AAU with a match-high 18 kills and 12 digs. Academy of Art University falls to 16-9 overall and 4-5 in Pacific West Conference play while BYU-H improves to 13-10 and 9-4 in the PacWest.
In the opening set, both teams battled through seven ties before BYU-H created some separation with an 8-3 run. The Seasiders would hold onto that margin through the rest of the game despite seven kills by Yang in the set.
BYU-Hawaii kept the pressure on in the second game with a 6-0 run early on to put the home team up 7-1. AAU fought back with a 4-1 push of its own which quickly put the visitors back in the set. Unfortunately for the Knights, the margin stayed above five points and the Seasiders took the set 25-19. In the game, Yang added six more kills to her match total.
The third set began with another 6-0 surge by BYU-H, but Academy of Art would not lose focus. AAU answered with a 5-1 run and was right back in the match now down 15-13. After that moment in the match, the Knights came within one point of the Seasiders on five different occasions before managing to take the lead 21-20. The squads put on a thrilling final sequence that featured eight ties and saw AAU fight off six set points. However, the Seasiders would prevail to take the set victory 31-29 and the match.
The Urban Knights had another strong performance from Yang with her 18 kills and 12 digs. Freshman setter Melissa Cheng notched a match-high 37 assists and sophomore outside hitter Nicolette Hagan contributed 11 kills of her own.
On BYU-Hawaii's side, outside hitter Losaline Faka'osi paced her team with 14 kills and 16 digs. Outside hitters Ane Vea and Kylee Nawahine each added 10 kills apiece while setter Lacey Laycock totaled 23 assists.
Academy of Art University will have one day off before taking on #17 University of Hawaii – Hilo on back-to-back days. The first match is set for this Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:00 PM HST (10:00 PM PST).
