San Francisco, CA – Playing in their fifth match in seven days, Academy of Art Volleyball wound up taking a tough 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20) loss to Hawaii Pacific on Thursday night despite a first set victory. Four Urban Knights logged double-digit digs with sophomore Melissa Brum among them. She offered a match-high 20 kills and 12 digs to pace ART U.

On fire early, Brum slammed down her third kill to give her team a 5-3 lead, but the Sharks came back to tie it 8-8. The sophomore continued to swing with success, putting down three consecutive kills to force an HPU timeout which allowed the visitors to regroup. Soon sophomore Emily Papale ignited an ART U push which saw the Knights run away with the opening set on a 12-3 surge. Papale had a kill and two aces thereafter, junior Rachael Smith got a kill late, and Brum finished off the 25-17 win.

Academy of Art kept it rolling in the second by starting 4-0 (pushing the first to second set rally to 16-3) before Hawaii Pacific responded. The score turned 8-8 off junior Isabel Emrich's kill, but the Sharks began to smell blood and went up 16-11 after two ART U attack errors. That advantage held up the rest of the way, giving HPU a 25-18 win to even the sets 1-1.

It was a rough start to the third set for the Knights as Hawaii Pacific went ahead 6-0 before senior Brittany Ulmer registered a kill. By way of a 9-3 run that started with freshman Bailey Soolsma's kill, Academy of Art came right back and took a 14-13 lead on Ulmer service aces plus HPU errors. The Sharks offered an 11-4 rebuttal, however, and would go on to win the set 25-19.

The fourth set had Hawaii Pacific controlling the tempo after the score was tied 3-3. Seven unanswered points got HPU started and eventually the Knights found themselves in an uphill battle, trailing 21-8. Unafraid of the challenge before them, Academy of Art proceeded with a 5-2 push which included four kills by Brum along with one each from Ulmer, Smith, and senior Kanoe Irvine. When the Sharks went ahead 24-16, ART U fended off four match points before a Christina Furrer kill concluded the 25-20 set victory for HPU.

The Urban Knights (8-6 overall, 3-3 in PacWest) were led by Brum's 12th double-double this year which came in the form of 20 kills and 12 digs. She was supported by nine kills and 12 digs from Papale as well as nine from Ulmer. Emrich finished with seven kills and 13 digs complementing solid defense from Irvine who had 18 digs. Smith amassed 46 assists on the night.

Academy of Art next faces #4 BYU-Hawaii on Monday, Oct. 6 back inside Kezar Pavilion at 7:30 PM.