HONOLULU – Comeback complete.

Inside The Shark Tank on Saturday night, Academy of Art volleyball faced a two-set deficit, but resiliently responded by taking the fourth frame then dramatically finishing off the 3-2 (26-28, 25-18, 9-25, 25-21, 16-14) triumph over Hawaii Pacific thanks to clutch efforts across the board. Three Urban Knights posted 13 or more kills, two had 20 or more digs, and the team's best collective hitting percentage of the season (.263) all contributed to Pacific West Conference victory number one in 2022.

Tie scores came often and throughout the opening set as an 8-4 Sharks advantage was soon cut down to 16-16 on back-to-back kills from graduate student outside hitter Maya McClellan and junior setter Elly McInerney followed by a McClellan service ace to cap a 6-2 run. From a 20-20 deadlock, the teams would mirror one another six more times with kills by graduate student outside hitter Amalie Rupertova, freshman middle blocker/right side Kaia Fittz, and senior middle blocker Jillian Wheaton helping ART U fend off HPU set points until a Sharks kill plus a hitting error enabled the home team to win 28-26.

After hitting .350 in the opening frame, Academy of Art continued to swing well in the second, forcing nine ties as the action went back-and-forth. The Urban Knights made their move at 17-17 when a kill and subsequent service ace by McClellan gave way to kills from sophomore middle blocker Janaya Delone and Rupertova to fuel a 6-0 surge before Rupertova and McClellan each delivered exclamation points to even the match with a 25-18 victory as well as a .361 hitting percentage in the frame.

Hawaii Pacific scored the first nine points of the third set and would remain in control much of the way toward a 25-9 win which gave the Sharks a 2-1 advantage in the contest. Though HPU held a lead early in the fourth frame, five straight (including two kills and another ace by McClellan) brought ART U back to assume a 9-7 advantage. The Sharks once again went up by as many as four points only to be yet again met by four consecutive scores including kills from Wheaton and Rupertova. After trailing 19-18, Academy of Art rattled of six unanswered with successive McClellan service aces and Rupertova kills highlighting the stretch. Rupertova's 15th kill of the match concluded the 25-21 victory, forcing a decisive fifth set.

Early offense from freshman setter Ainsley Robare and sophomore right side Katherine Von Kraut kept the Urban Knights close and, though an 12-9 lead had HPU sniffing a win, the momentum shifted once more late. Robare found Von Kraut twice for kills while dumping one of her own in between as Academy of Art closed the gap to make it 12-12 before two Sharks miscues set up match point at 14-13. A solo block kept HPU alive, but McClellan and Delone then delivered successive blows with kills set up by McInerney and ART U would at last walk away 16-14 victors.

Academy of Art improves to 2-11 on the year and 1-3 in PacWest play with Saturday's win. Rupertova finished with a team-high 15 kills, totaling seven digs and three block assists alongside. Along with her fourth double-double of the year (13 kills and a season-high 20 digs), McClellan added seven service aces to tie the program record set by Kanoe Irvine on Oct. 19, 2010. Von Kraut posted her best hitting percentage since Aug. 27 with a .346 mark propelling her to 13 kills. McInerney posted 27 assists while Robare contributed her second double-double in the form of 24 assists and 10 digs. Delone's five kills were complemented by three block assists and senior libero Isaura Santos' 21 digs marked her third-highest mark of the year.

Its first victory eluding them once again, Hawaii Pacific drops to 0-10 overall and 0-4 against conference opponents despite 17 kills and 12 digs from Ella Dotson.

After inter-island travel on Sunday, the Urban Knights will conclude their roadtrip against UH Hilo on Monday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. HT (10 p.m. PT).