Box Score
San Francisco, CA -- In a game that see-sawed back and forth for all five sets, the Academy of Art University volleyball team found themselves on the wrong side of the box score at the end of the night on Saturday against Dominican University. The Urban Knights split the homestand and had multiple players in double figures on the attack, including a career-high 17 kills from Caitlin Boring, but fell to the Penguins 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-19, 20-25, 11-15).

The Urban Knights rolled in the first set, getting 19 kills and hitting .364 as a team, rallying to an 11-6 lead when Kanoe Irvine got an ace off the serve. The lead got as big a six a couple different times, including a big block assist from Brittany Ulmer and Boring that made it 21-15. After another kill from Boring, the Knights got three more points with Emily Papale serving to seal the set 25-17.

Dominican dominated the second set, jumping out to an 8-4 lead and extending that to 17-9 before head coach Ed Jackson took his final timeout. The Urban Knights then clawed their way back into it, as back-to-back kills from Boring made it 22-15, but an error on the serve gave the Penguins the set win and tied it up at 1-1.

ART U bounced back in the third set, breaking a late 13-13 tie with back-to-back kills from Papale. Later on in the set, Brittany Ulmer got a chance to serve, and the Knights rattled off five straight points to make it 23-18. The Penguins picked up a couple points, but a kill from Boring and then a block from Lindsay Elgin and Melissa Brum gave ART U a 2-1 lead.

But Dominican would rally back, taking a 4-0 lead to start the fourth set with Kelsey Lardner serving. ART U battled to tie it up at 13-13, but with Lardner serving again, they stretched it out to 17-13. The two battled back and forth, with Academy of Art coming back within 24-20 after a lengthy delay due to a serve out of rotation from Dominican, but the Penguins would hold on to win 25-20 and send it to a fifth set.

That set looked one-sided with the Penguins taking a 10-5 lead, but ART U powered back in. Emily Papale got a kill, and then Kanoe Irvine served up back-to-back aces to make it 10-8. But it was again Dominican who got the clutch points, as the two teams actually traded points the rest of the way, before an error made it a 15-11 set win and a 3-2 match loss for the Knights.

Papale led the Knights with 18 kills, while Boring's 17 kills on a .394 hitting percentage were a career high. Melissa Brum added 10 kills, while also totaling 21 digs. Rachael Smith had 55 assists for the Knights. Amanda Wasko had 19 kills for Dominican, while Madeline Powelson had 13 kills and 19 digs.

Academy of Art will head to Hawaii and play three matches in three days against Chaminade, BYU-Hawaii, and UH Hilo.