Seaside, CA -- An offseason after the Academy of Art University volleyball team played seven matches that went all the way to five sets, they capped off their 2013 opening day with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over San Francisco State that helped rinse out some of the bad taste from a 3-1 loss to Saint Martin's only hours earlier. The Urban Knights made some adjustments between matches that saw their hitting percentage shoot up and their team errors go way down in the final box scores, and ended the day with a split that put them at 1-1 on the young season.

The Knights started the day bright and early, with a 9:00 AM start against Saint Martin's University. The Saints got out to an early 1-0 lead after a 25-22 set win, but the Knights equalized in the second set on a 25-23 victory. But unforced errors undid the Urban Knights, as they ended the match losing 25-16 and 25-17 with a total attack percentage of .030 on the match.

Newcomer Emily Papale and last year's kills leader Taylor Suchy led Academy of Art with nine kills each, while Lindsay Elgin had eight kills along with five total blocks. Papale added 20 digs, while libero Kanoe Irvine had 21 digs in her return to the court. Rachael Smith added 32 assists on the day for ART U. For the Saints, Kyra Davidson led all scorers with 16 kills, while Kristyn Ross had 10 kills and 12 digs. Running out two setters, Cymbree DeCosta totaled 22 assists to go along with Candice Pedroza's 16. 

n the nightcap, the Urban Knights came out strong and didn't stop putting the pressure on a San Francisco State club that went 21-9 a year ago. The first set was a see-saw battle, with the Knights going on a key run being down 17-12 to equalizing at 19-19. After ties at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, 23-23, 24-24, and 25-25, the Knights got a kill from senior Caitlin Boring and another from Papale to seal the first set. The success continued in the second set, as ART U jumped out to a 15-9 lead and maintained it throughout, eventually capitalizing on three straight errors by the Gators to win the set 25-18.

Then SFSU started to claw back into it. In the third set, a big run in the middle of it all pushed the score from 9-7 to 15-7, and the Gators didn't look back, taking the set 25-14. The fourth set was more closely contested, but again a big run swung the score form an 8-5 ART U advantage to a 12-8 SF State lead. The two teams would battle, with the Knights pulling within one at 16-15, but the Gators equalized with a 25-22 victory.

In the pivotal set, however, it was all Urban Knights. It started off with an ace from Melissa Brum, and the Knights took a 3-2 lead all the way to a 7-2 margin thanks to strong plays from their two pillars in the middle, Boring and Elgin. Another run pushed it to 14-6, with more blocks coming from the Knights, who ended it with Papale rising with Brittany Ulmer to send back an attack from Meagan Wright to secure the 15-7 set win and the 3-2 match victory.

The attack numbers were much better in the second match of the day, with ART U notching four separate players in double figures. Brum led the way with 14 kills and 14 digs, while Papale was right behind her with 13 kills and 15 digs. Boring and Elgin each had 10 kills, with Elgin totaling eight blocks and Boring adding three of her own. Rachael Smith notched 51 assists in the win.

Academy of Art finishes off the tournament tomorrow, facing host Cal State Monterey Bay at 11:00 AM and then another team in a rematch depending on the pool standings.