Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Meghan Bushnell)

San Francisco, CA -- Saturday marked the final day of the season for Academy of Art University volleyball, and also the final match for the team's three seniors. Pulling a tough draw against No. 12 Fresno Pacific, the Urban Knights took the first set but ultimately fell to the Sunbirds in four sets, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 19-25.  Despite the loss, all three seniors played key roles in the match, as Melissa Cheng, Angela Heath, and Janelle Burnett each had their own highlights and showcased their skill sets in their senior sendoff.

The last time these two teams met up, the Knights handed FPU their first set loss of the season on their home floor, and came right out again on Saturday in the first set of the season finale. Following the senior day pregame ceremonies, all three seniors took the floor as part of the starting lineup. Behind Burnett and Heath serving early in the set, the Knights took a 7-4 lead. After a big run by the Sunbirds, the Knights forced the issue, taking advantage of FPU errors to retake a 20-14 lead. Three more errors by Fresno Pacific made it 24-17, and Burnett sealed the set point with a big ace to put the Knights up 1-0.

The Knights and Sunbirds would stay gridlocked in the second set, with neither team able to pull away. FPU took an 8-5 lead, but Academy of Art would come right back to take a 10-9 lead. The advantage swung back to Fresno Pacific at 14-11, but the Urban Knights battled back again to close the gap at 20-19. It was Erica Adachi who helped stave off ART U's advances, getting the last two kills for the Sunbirds to even the match at 1-1.

Fresno Pacific seemed unable to shake off the Knights, who continued to hang around and kept making their voices heard on the court in the third set. The Sunbirds took an 8-3 lead, but behind Rachael Smith's serving ART U bounced back, scoring six straight to take a 9-8 advantage. A kill by Karah Mitchell saw the Knights down 20-14, but much to the delight of the home crowd they came back to take a 21-20 lead. That was as close as Academy of Art would get in the third set, however, as a 5-0 run by FPU ended the set at gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth set, The two teams continued their neck-and-neck pace. There were nine total ties in the final set, the last at 14-14. That's when Fresno Pacific rattled off four straight points to take late lead, while also causing at Jackson to use both of his team's timeouts. The Urban Knights continued to fight, trading two-point swings with the Sunbirds, but ran out of road to eventually fall 25-19 in the final set.

Heath had eight kills and seven digs to finish out her decorated career with over 800 kills, 600 digs, and 200 blocks, and 200-plus kills in three of four seasons. Cheng had 28 assists and 14 digs to finish with over 2500 sets, and Burnett had 15 digs for the Knights, coming up just short of the single-season record for digs with 459. Lindsay Elgin led the way for the Knights with 12 kills, while Brittany Ulmer, Taylor Suchy, and Caitlin Boring each had seven kills.