Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Samm McAlear)

Hayward, CA -- The Academy of Art University volleyball team kept up their solid play on Friday night, but eventually succumbed after two highly competitive matches against CCAA opponents. In the opener, San Francisco State pulled off a comeback from 2-0 Urban Knights lead to eventually win 3-2. In the nightcap, host Cal State East Bay took three sets by less than six points, including a 28-26 score in the second set.

The Urban Knights jumped out to an early lead against the Gators, coming back in the first set for a thrilling 26-24 victory. They dominated the second set, going on a 9-2 run to win 25-18. That's when San Francisco State started their comeback. In the third set, a late comeback for the Knights made it 21-19, but they were turned away as the Gators held on for the 25-19 win. The fourth set was similar, as ART U had it as close as 19-17 but couldn't complete the comeback, and it was another rally stifled in the fifth when SFSU went on a 10-3 run to win the match.

"Some great lessons were learned today," said Coach Jackson "I was proud of how our team competed in both matches.  Our challenge is being able to execute our skills consistently when we are in a positions to win which we were in both matches.  We are an exciting team to watch and as our team gains experience we will start winning the close games."

Angela Heath had 13 kills and 13 digs for the Knights, and Brittany Ulmer, Lindsay Elgin, and Taylor Suchy all had seven kills. Ulmer added five total blocks, and Elgin led all players with eight blocks in the middle. Four players had double-digit dig totals, led by Janelle Burnett and her 23 digs. Kelly Ostello had 21 kills for the Gators, closely followed by Meagan Wright with 20. 

"Blocking is all about effort," said Jackson. "Our middles are some of the hardest working players on our team.  I feel we have blockers in the right positions which is providing a challenge for our opponents.  We are proving to be one of the better blocking teams in our conference, but our challenge is to find other ways to score.  Attacking and creating more kills is one of our focuses in practice.  Every week we are finding ways to create more point scoring opportunities.  As we improve, the opportunities will translate into more runs of scoring points."

In the night game, the Knights drew tournament host Cal State East Bay for the first matchup between these two teams since last year. The Knights were forced to play catch up again, as the Pioneers jumped out to a 12-4 lead. ART U was able to fight back to a 22-18 margin after a kill by Heath, but CSUEB held on to win the first set 25-20. The second set was a marathon, as there were ties throughout and neither team ever led by more than six points, which was a 7-1 advantage in the beginning of the set. The Knights were actually up 26-25, but the Pioneers rattled off three straight points to win 28-26. East Bay took control in the final set as well, taking a 17-9 lead before finishing the match 25-19.

Heath again led the Urban Knights with 14 kills, and Suchy put up seven kills again to go with her 10 digs. Burnett had 17 digs and two aces for ART U. The Pioneers were led by Suzy Ni Xu, who had 11 kills to be the only East Bay player in double figures.

The Knights play two more tomorrow, starting with Humboldt State in the morning and finishing the day with Cal State Monterey Bay in the tournament finale.