ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – In its first match of the Seawolves/Penguins Classic, Academy of Art volleyball held leads in each set and served strong, but Northwest Nazarene ultimately collected the victory 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) inside The Wolves' Den on Thursday.

Following a service ace from freshman setter Ainsley Robare before she assisted a kill by freshman middle blocker/right side Kaia Fittz, ART U was ahead 4-2 out of the gate, but the match was soon tied at 6-6. Junior setter Elly McInerney then positioned graduate student outside hitters Amalie Rupertova and Maya McClellan for back-to-back kills during a short burst yet the Nighthawks responded with a 12-5 run to go up 19-14. Senior middle blocker Jillian Wheaton sandwiched a block alongside Rupertova with two kills before Robare sent down the first block solo of her collegiate career to bring the Urban Knights within a single point at 20-19. Unfortunately, five of the final seven points went NNU's way in the 25-21 end result.

McClellan kicked off the second frame with a pair of kills as Academy of Art built a 5-2 advantage then, from a 5-5 deadlock, senior libero Isaura Santos connected on two service aces to help her team go back ahead 9-5. Northwest Nazarene answered with seven of the next eight points, but six of the nine that followed thereafter belonged to ART U including two kills from Rupertova. Exchanging short runs, the squads were once again knotted at 20-20 and four kills by the Nighthawks won them the set 25-22.

Up 3-2 on a kill by sophomore right side Katherine Von Kraut, the Urban Knights proceeded to battle back against a 5-0 NNU run with another pair of service aces off the hand of Santos to close the gap to one at 10-9. Six unanswered points from the Nighthawks, however, created separation and was enough to propel them to a 25-16 victory along with the match.

Academy of Art, now 0-5 in 2022, relied on eight kills from Rupertova as well as seven apiece from Von Kraut and McClellan. McClellan added nine digs to tie her for the team lead with Santos who contributed four service aces for a new career-high since joining the Knights. McInerney and Robare each finished with 12 assists apiece with the latter contributing eight digs as well. As a squad, ART U totaled 11 service aces which was their highest number in a three-set match since Oct. 11, 2017 versus Hawaii Pacific and tied for the Knights' third-highest total in a three-set match in program history.

Improving to 4-1 with the victory, Northwest Nazarene got 10 kills from Natalia Sullivan who was the match's lone individual to reach double figures.

A pair of matches are next for Academy of Art on Friday as Cal State East Bay (10:30 a.m.) and Sonoma State (7:30 p.m.) will conclude the Knights' portion of the Seawolves/Penguins Classic taking place in Rohnert Park.