Box Score
Belmont, CA -- The Urban Knights missed a golden opportunity on Thursday night to move up in the PacWest standings, and a 2-1 set advantage wriggled out of their grasp as they dropped the final two sets to Notre Dame de Namur, losing in five sets 18-25, 26-24, 25-19, 9-25 and 8-15.
The Urban Knights battled in the first set and then dominated the second and third, but the Argos stormed back to take the fourth and fifth sets and the match. Academy of Art had nine total blocks and three aces, and setter
Melissa Cheng had 39 assists, but in the end it was errors that stopped the Knights from taking home a win.
"The difference was in the errors," head coach Allison Magner said. "We had three hitters with negative hitting percentage and did not meet our goal of team synergy."
The three hitters Coach Magner mentioned were
Amy Bush (5 kills, -.059 hitting percentage),
Camille Board (5 kills, -.043 hitting percentage), and
Ka'ena Kaina (5 kills, -.130 hitting percentage), all of whom play in the middle for the Knights.
"There were key moments where we saw a powerful, smart team," said Magner. "But with nine block errors, there were things we didn't control and volleyball comes down to that."
Leinani Keanini had an eye-popping 17 kills and 10 digs for another double-double, and junior
Angela Heath added a double-double of her own with 12 kills and 15 digs. Overall, the Knights had five players reach double-figures in digs, led by libero
Midori Le and her 24.
The Argos took the first set, but the Knights came back and with four straight points came back to win 26-24 in the second set, all with Keanini serving. The match was tied at 20-20 before a kill by Tatiana Wesley put the Argos up 23-20 and forced an ART U timeout. It got to 24-22 before the Knights went on their run to put the match away.
The third set was all Knights from the beginning, as they jumped out to a 12-6 lead and didn't look back, only letting the Argos come as close as 21-17 before finishing off the set on a kill by Heath.
That's when Notre Dame de Namur put together a monster run to start the fourth set, jumping out to a 15-4 lead before Magner called timeout. The Knights were unable to recover, falling in the fourth 25-9.
In the final set, the Knights were just unable to string their points together, falling behind 8-3 as the teams switched sides. Jennifer Jasper notched three straight kills to push the Argos within one of the win at 14-5, but the Knights fought off four match points before succumbing 15-8.
"We need to play with intention to win and a sense of urgency," Magner said. "There's a hesitation, looking for others to act but we need people to take that step into the darkness. Do we have that ability on this team? Absolutely. We just need to take charge."
Academy of Art will look to take charge Friday night against the Lady Penguins of Dominican, whom they have swept in six straight sets in their two matchups so far this year.
