Box Score

San Francisco, CA -- A week after they just missed a victory against UH Hilo, the Urban Knights women's volleyball team sharpened all of their weapons in a dominant win over Chaminade on Wednesday night, tallying their first conference win with a 3-0 sweep, winning 25-21, 25-11, and 25-18. 


Academy of Art kept their own errors at a minimum, and outdid the Silverswords in virtually every category. The Knights has fewer errors, more kills, more digs, more blocks, and more aces, dominating the battle of the box score and riding that efficiency to a win. It was a total team effort, as the Knights spread the kills around and had their best hitting percentage of the year at .326 in the victory.

ART U got right into it, making a six-point run in the middle of the first set to take a 15-10 lead, capped off by forcing an error by the Swords, one of 17 by visiting Chaminade, who hit only .115 on the night. The Knights kept that lead through the rest of the set, holding off a late charge by the Silverswords but using a kill by Caitlin Boring to seal the opening set. Boring started on Wednesday after injuring her ankle in the warmup against Hilo, and responded with a career night, posting 13 kills on an outstanding .480 hitting percentage.

Boring and the Knights kept that momentum into the second set, jumping out to another big lead at 8-2. They extended that lead to 18-10 on a kill from Angela Heath, who was another element of the balanced attack. After a kill by Chaminade's Kim Spring, the Urban Knights responded with a 7-point run that included two aces by Brittany Ulmer and was capped off by back-to-back kills from Heath and Boring to take a 2-0 lead.

Academy of Art kept the lead for the whole set in the third, grabbing a lead and never letting go. After hitting .424 in the second set, getting 16 kills and only two errors, they hit .345 in the third set, taking 14 kills and only making four errors. The closest that the Swords came in the final set was a one-point margin at 8-7, but the Knights spread the wealth and didn't let Chaminade come any closer, eventually finishing the match on a four-point run, starting on a kill by Boring and ending on an attack error that gave the Knights a much-needed victory.

Boring led the Knights with 13 kills, and she was closely followed by her fellow middle blocker Lindsay Elgin, who  had nine kills (hitting .467) and six total blocks. Ulmer had seven kills, and Taylor Suchy and Heath each had six kills. Rachael Smith had 35 assists on the night, and libero Janelle Burnett added 10 digs. Kim Spring led the Swords with 10 kills, as the next highest scorer for Chaminade only had six.

The Knights will look for payback against Dominican on Saturday at Kezar Pavilion. Saturday is THINK PINK night for Academy of Art as they participate in Breast Cancer Awareness month. Sign up for the fan bus here and be sure to WEAR PINK.