Box Score
Pomona, CA ---- The Urban Knights returned to the court Friday morning for their first of two games against tournament co-host Cal Poly Pomona. After dropping a heartbreaking five set match last night to Northwood University ART U was eager to redeem themselves, and redeem themselves they did. ART U swept the Broncos in three straight sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-21). "Today we saw significant improvements in playing as a team. I am very proud of the way we played," Head Coach Marcus Young said.
The Urban Knights came out firing on all cylinders, snatching the first set in convincing fashion. Although the Broncos scored first and took the early lead, ART U remained calm and battled back. "We were much more confident today. When we got ahead, we stayed ahead!" Young stated. After being down 6-4 early in the set, the Urban Knights banned together to put together an impressive 7-2 run, sparked by two aces from
Dan Yang. The Urban Knights continued to gradually widen the gap, expanding the lead to as many as 7, 22-15, with the help of
Angela Heath and
Jill Singletary, who had three kills on four attack attempts. "Jill really stepped up for us today," says Young. "She had a .714 hitting percentage with zero errors, that is outstanding! When our middle blockers are hitting well it makes it really hard for defenses to handle us," states Young. The Broncos had no answer for the Knights as ART U took set one 25-19.
The Urban Knights carried their energy over from set one right into set two. ART U opened with a 10-4 run that Cal Poly could not recover from. The Knights hit an impressive .360 percent, knocking down 13 kills on 25 attempts and committing just four errors. Yang had six of her 16 kills which helped the Urban Knights defeat the Broncos 25-20.
With the Knights up 23-16 late in set three the Broncos put an impressive rally together to bring them to within three points. But, ART U maintained their composure late in the game and allowed the Broncos to score just one point before they retired the match 25-21.
For Cal Poly Kristen McNeese led the team with 14 kills. Jessica Doerner added nine kills and one block. While Katie Colin dished out a game high 27 assists.
For the second straight game
Yang led the Knights offensively, the senior had 16 kills along with two block assists and three aces.
Singletary had an outstanding day knocking down five kills on seven attempts with zero errors. The sophomore also added two block assists.
Amy Bush chipped in with seven kills and two block assists. While sophomore setter
Melissa Cheng dished out 26 assists.
ART U improves to 1-1 with the win. The Urban Knights hit the floor for the second time today tonight at 7:00 PM when they take on #14 Cal State LA.
Game #2
Box Score
Los Angeles, CA--- Riding high off of their win against Cal Poly Pomona the Urban Knights focused as they got ready to take on their biggest challenge of their young season, #14 Cal State LA. ART U was on the losing end of a battle against the Golden Eagles just two seasons ago and tonight they hoped for a different outcome. Unfortunately, CSU LA was too much for the young squad to handle as ART U dropped three straight sets (25-16,25-18, 25-19). The loss drops the Academy to 1-2 on the season.
The Urban Knights started the first set with promise. ART U kept the game within one point early in the game, 8-7. But, three errors and two aces by the Eagles gave Cal State LA a 13-7 lead that the Urban Knights could not overcome. The Eagles went on an 8-4 run, which brought the score to 21-11. ART U tried to rally, scoring the next two points, but the strong CSU LA team would go on to retire the set 25-16.
The second set started out slow for the Urban Knights as the Eagle scored the first 5 points, 5-0. A
Jelena Jakovljevic kill gave the Urban Knights their first point of the match, 5-1. However, the Eagles would go on to score the next 11 out of 14 points, putting them up 17-4. The Urban Knights would try to make a late game run scoring seven unanswered points, but it was too little too late as the Eagles went on to win the second set, 25-18.
The third and final set looked reminiscent of the two previous sets. The 14th ranked CSU LA Eagles proved to be too much for the Urban Knights to handle. Despite the close beginning ART U dropped the third set 17-25. "It was a tough loss tonight. Against stronger teams we have to play our A-game," said Head Coach Marcus Young.
"As a team we are not where we need to be. Overall, we need to refocus and get ready for tomorrows match. We have seen the level of play that we need to strive to get to," Young stated.
The Eagles had contributions from numerous players. Marquis Mora led the way, finishing with nine kills on 13 attempts and also added five block assists. Natalie Gonzales was right behind her with eight kills, and Zuzana Cizova added seven kills and four aces. Briana Fields and Amrita Tuladhar both added four kills, with Tuladhar adding a game high 29 assists.
ART U struggled to find an offensive groove, but Yang finished with a team high 10 kills.
Amy Bush,
Jakovljevic, and
Melissa Cheng each added three kills a piece.
Cheng also dished out 16 assists on the night.
The Urban Knights close out play tomorrow evening with a game against Simon Fraser University. Opening Serve is set for 5:00 PM.
