San Francisco, CA -- The Academy of Art women's volleyball team jumped out to a convincing 1-0 lead to open PacWest play against California Baptist University, but the Lancers spoiled the good start by winning three straight sets to hand the Knights a tough loss in front of a home crowd at Kezar Pavilion. The Urban Knights unveiled their two attacking freshmen on Thursday night, Melissa Brum and Emily Papale, who each racked up double-digit kills and digs in the loss.

The Knights (4-5, 0-1 PacWest) used a strong attack to keep the Lancers out of system and exploit them with extremely efficient play, notching 17 kills on a .302 hitting percentage in the first set to take it 25-17. That hitting efficiency reversed field in the second set, as the Knights fell into the negative and dropped it 16-25.

They would recover in the third set in terms of hitting percentage, but the Lancers put them away 18-25 after a 5-0 run in the later stages. That led up to an ultra-competitive fourth set saw the Knights down early but go on a five-point run of their own late with Papale serving to take a 21-20 lead, but the Lancers came back again to win it 25-21 and the match 3-1.

Brum led all scorers with 15 kills and added 10 digs, while Papale was right behind her with 14 kills and 11 digs. Rachael Smith had 39 assists for the Knights. Kim McCalmont led the Lancers with 13 kills and 20 digs, while Jelena Dragovic (11 kills) and Lauren Marr (10 kills) were also in double digits.

The Knights will turn it around for a matchup tomorrow night with a much improved team from Point Loma Nazarene University, who opened the PacWest season with a 3-2 win over Dominican in San Rafael.