Ellensburg, WA -- The Academy of Art women's volleyball team defeated Seattle Pacific University in game one of the CWU Volleyball Invitational (25-13, 24-26, 27-25, 16-25, 16-14). The Urban Knights move to 4-1 while Seattle Pacific drops to 3-3. Junior outside hitter Dan Yang finished with 19 kills and 15 digs while sophomore middle blocker Amy Bush added 10 kills and 10 block assists.

The AAU middle block helped the Knights establish an early advantage in the first set which they would win 25-13. Academy of Art University had eight block assists in the opening set. Although both teams stayed close in the second set and AAU took a 24-23 lead, SPU was able to answer back with three consecutive points and the 26-24 victory.

An exciting third set saw the Falcons surge midway through to a 20-15 advantage. Despite being down, the Urban Knights rallied back with an 8-3 run and faced set point 24-23. Yang responded with an attack attempt and followed through with an impressive block to tie the game. AAU pushed back and took the set 27-25. In the fourth, Seattle Pacific held on to an early lead en route to a 25-16 set win which set up the tie-breaking fifth.

The Knights were down early, but both teams fought through four ties late in the fifth set before Yang emphatically killed the final two points giving Academy of Art University the match.

For AAU, sophomore libero Nicolette Hagan amassed 21 digs in the match, freshman setter Melissa Cheng dealt out 46 assists, and junior outside hitter Jelena Jakovljevic just missed a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs. The Knights doubled up SPU in team blocks 18-9 and used a .412 hitting percentage in the fifth set to take the victory.

The Falcons were led offensively by outside hitter Priscilla Collings who had 15 kills. Outside hitter Sarah Risser backed her up with 11 kills and 12 digs.

AAU will hit the floor again later today at 3:00 PM when they take on host institution Central Washington University (3-1). A live webcast can be found at www.greatnorthwest.tv