SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art stayed aggressive serving the volleyball on Wednesday night, but it was not enough to stop Hawaii Pacific who prevailed 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-19) inside Kezar Pavilion for the Pacific West Conference matchup.
A 5-0 Sharks run to begin the match was quickly erased by the Urban Knights' 8-3 response capped by back-to-back kills from freshman outside hitter
Kimiah Johnson and senior outside hitter
Bailey Soolsma. HPU again went ahead 16-11, but a pair of service aces from redshirt junior defensive specialist
Lyndsay Mlynar helped keep ART U within striking distance. Finally, it was an 8-1 surge that gave the visitors the 25-15 victory.
Similarly to the first set, the Sharks opened the second frame on a 5-0 run only to face a 7-7 tie score shortly thereafter thanks to a run that featured senior middle blocker
Margaret Winkler's two service aces. No more than two points separated the teams the rest of the way in a hard-fought battle of a set. Freshman libero
Ashley Pawlak aced HPU once more to give her squad a 21-20 advantage, but the Sharks came back with four unanswered points to force set point. The Knights extended the set with two more scores, but ended up dropping to 2-0 on a 25-23 final.
Although Soolsma's service ace put Academy of Art up 6-3 to start the third set, the score was 8-8 before long and a 10-3 push by the Sharks got them ahead 18-13. ART U came to within four points on redshirt junior middle blocker
Safua Elisaia's kill at 22-18, however, HPU finished off the frame with three of the next four scores to win 25-19 and complete the sweep.
Academy of Art moves to 4-12 on the year and 1-8 in conference play. Soolsma finished with eight kills and 10 digs while sophomore setter
Lilika Teu added 25 assists. The Knights amassed 11 service aces, three apiece from Soolsma, Winkler, and Mlynar, for their second-highest total of the season.
Hawaii Pacific rises to 7-10 overall and 5-4 in the PacWest. Perla Escobar delivered a match-high 13 kills.
The second part of ART U's four-match homestand comes on Friday, Oct. 13 when the Knights host Concordia at 5 p.m. inside Kezar Pavilion. The first 100 fans will receive breast cancer awareness t-shirts as Academy of Art celebrates its "Dig Pink" match.
