Box Score

St. George, UT -- The Academy of Art women's volleyball team went from hosting the island schools of the PacWest to being guests in the more arid climes of St. George, UT, and the Urban Knights went to work, using a three-pronged attack to dispatch Dixie State in four sets, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22. Lindsay Elgin (15 kills), Caitlin Boring (14 kills), and Taylor Suchy (13 kills) were a terrific trio on the attack for ART U, while freshman setter Rachael Smith had her fifth match with 50-plus assists, setting it up 53 times for her hitters.

"Caitlin and Lindsay provide physical size and can attack quick sets effectively making it difficult for teams to defend," said head coach Ed Jackson. "Rachael is doing a great job adapting to our level of play.  She's proving she can become one of the top setters in our conference."

Every set was hotly contested, as the Knights (7-16, 4-9 PWC) battled back from spotting the Red Storm a one-set lead. The first set started out with Dixie State a 4-0 lead, but eventually came back to tie the set at 11-11. The Urban Knights knotted it up again at 15-15 on a kill from Suchy and again at 16-16 on a kill from Angela Heath, but the Red Storm (6-13, 4-10 PWC) used a quick 9-3 run to take the set 25-19, finishing it off with a kill from Mercedes O'Neal.

The Knights returned after the break and started it off with a kill from Elgin, but then spotted Dixie State an 8-3 lead. Then Academy of Art stormed back to tie the lead at 12-12 on an ace from Janelle Burnett, and then took the lead on a kill from Boring. The two teams traded points back and forth for the next few points, and then ART U took a kill from Boring again to make it 21-20. Elgin got two late kills to make it a game point for the Knights, and then O'Neal had another of her kills to make it 24-22. That's when Smith got in on the attacking game, getting one of her two kills on the night on a feed from Burnett to tie the match up at one set apiece.

In the third set, the Urban Knights hit their stride offensively, using three straight errors by Dixie State to take an 11-7 lead and force a timeout by the Red Storm. Following a timeout by Ed Jackson later in the set, Boring continued her strong set, posting back-to-back kills to make it a 19-15 game, and then adding another to make it 21-18. Holli "Ka'ena" Kaina got one of her three kills to set up another by Elgin to make it 23-19, and then Suchy sandwiched two kills around an error to make it 25-20 and a 2-1 Knights lead.

With the match on the line in the fourth set, the Knights didn't take their foot off the gas. Academy of Art took brief leads at 5-2 and 10-5, but both times Dixie State pushed back to tie it up. The final tie came at 14-14, when Pauline von Dinklage got a kill for the Red Storm. The Knights were not having any more of being tied, and didn't want to give Dixie a chance at a fifth set, and took control from there. They went on two separate four-point runs to make it 22-16 on one more kill from Boring, and then withstood a late rally from the Red Storm, who brought it within one point, to get a kill from Brittany Ulmer and secure the victory for ART U.

The Urban Knights continued the upward trend in hitting percentage that started in the first set. After the first frame (.136), ART U posted percentages of .174 in the second, .220 in the third, and finished it off with a fourth set hitting .319, their most efficient of the night. In addition to the strong offensive performances, they also had a number of players reach double-digits in digs. Burnett, the libero, led the way with 28 digs, while Suchy (13), Midori Le (11), Jordan Cotton (10), and Smith (10) all contributed defensively.

Suchy also topped the 200-kill plateau for the year, while Heath and Elgin sit right behind her as the second and third Urban Knights to reach the mark. Suchy now has 211 kills, while Heath's two-kill night puts her at 198 kills on the season. Elgin's big night gives her 189 kills in her first year with the squad. O'Neal had 20 kills for the Red Storm, while Brita Jensen added 11. Shelby Sorenson had 38 assists in the loss. 

The Knights will have one more game on the road against nationally-ranked Grand Canyon on Saturday before returning home to finish the season at Kezar Pavilion against Notre Dame de Namur and Fresno Pacific University.