San Francisco, CA – Making a splash in their 2014 home and Pacific West Conference debut, ART U Volleyball put away Dominican 3-0 in front of a large crowd inside Kezar Pavilion on Wednesday night. The Urban Knights were dominant in the first and third sets and rallied back from a brief deficit in the second to win 25-15, 26-14, 25-14.

Academy of Art was off to a great start in the opening set, using kills by Brittany Ulmer, Margaret Winkler, Melissa Brum, and Isabel Emrich as well as a pair of Brum service aces to go up 10-4. The teams traded points until the Knights turned a 14-11 advantage into a 20-12 one on more strong offense with Brum and Kanoe Irvine serving. Dominican snagged two points back, but five of the final six scores favored ART U and the sophomore tandem of Emily Papale along with Brum finished off the 25-15 victory.

It was more of the same as the second set began with Academy of Art going up 5-1. This time, however, the Penguins would not go so lightly and they cut down the margin to one, 9-8. The Knights made a short run with kills from a variety of arms, but Dominican soon tied the set 15-15. Six ties eventually took the teams to 24-24 from which ART U finished off the 26-24 set win with a kill by Emrich and a Penguin attack error.

The Knights stepped on the gas pedal even further in the third frame, taking a 12-1 lead from the outset. Ulmer served for 11 consecutive points as errors led to Dominican struggles before big kills by Brum and Winkler sent ART U on its way. Although the Penguins fought back to make it 14-8, another push by Academy of Art sealed the deal. The Knights offered a 7-3 surge and wrapped up the sweep with a 25-14 win on Emrich's exclamation point.

The Urban Knights rise to 6-3 overall and 1-0 in PacWest play after both Emrich and Brum led the way with 11 kills apiece. Each also delivered a double-double as Emrich amassed 13 digs and Brum finished with 11. Smith had 34 of the squad's 42 assists and the tandem of Irvine and Papale combined for 35 digs with Irvine posting 20 of those on her birthday to match her career-high for a three-set contest.

ART U will now take a week to prepare for its three matches in three days starting next Thursday with Azusa Pacific (Sept. 25) then Dixie State on Friday (Sept. 26) and California Baptist on Saturday (Sept. 27).