HILO, Hawaii – Despite successfully battling back from multiple deficits in the first and third sets, Academy of Art University volleyball took its first five-set loss Thursday night inside the UH Hilo Vulcans' Gymnasium. A pair of double-doubles and a season-high 85 digs kept the Urban Knights competitively in throughout, but the home team managed to rally one final time to win 3-2.

"Our initial game plan was to work with our transition game to give ourselves opportunities to score and to bounce back quickly from our errors," said head coach Ray Batalon. "When we won the two sets, we managed our game well. Mel and Stine were aggressive when they needed to be and we stayed patient. In the other sets, we couldn't respond well after the errors. We allowed Hilo to make small runs at us and, before you knew it, they built large leads. We were playing too much in the past rather then playing more in the present."

In the opening set, a 10-10 tie was broken up when UH Hilo went on a 6-1 run. However, ART U fought back to close the gap to just a single point at 22-21 after a big block assist by junior Melissa Brum and sophomore Margaret Winkler. Though the Vulcans threatened with a set point at 24-22, Academy of Art proceeded to fight back with four unanswered points featuring kills by Brum, senior Isabel Emrich, and finally the winner by freshman Stine Raben for a 26-24 final.

Rallying in response, UH Hilo gained an early 14-6 advantage in set two and never looked back. Separate runs of 7-2 and 8-1 enabled the Vulcans to even the match with a 25-11 set victory heading into the 10-minute break between the second and third frames. Set three featured 10 ties and none more crucial than that at 24-24 after UH Hilo's error on set point. Senior setter Rachael Smith went to Emrich for the kill shortly thereafter and another Vulcan miscue gave ART U the two-set lead with a 26-24 score.

As the match see-sawed once again, UH Hilo jumped out to a 16-9 advantage in the fourth set. Too much offense from Marley Strand-Nicolaisen down the stretch forced a decisive fifth set after the Vulcans took the fourth 25-15. Though the home team went up 9-3 to start the final frame, Emrich put away two consecutive kills to keep the Knights in it. Back-to-back blocks by sophomore Amorelle Applin brought Academy of Art to within four, but the final two points gave Hilo the 15-9 set victory along with the match.

ART U is now 4-6 overall and 0-2 in PacWest play. Two players logged double-doubles in the five-set contest including Raben (15 kills, 15 digs) and Brum (13 kills, 20 digs). Junior libero Kabrina Speakman amassed a new career-high 20 digs while freshman Alana Lucas had her best defensive day with 16 digs. Smith dealt out 38 assists to her teammates.

UH Hilo picks up its first PacWest victory (now 1-1) and moves to 3-2 overall. Strand-Nicolaisen finished with a match-high 26 kills and Morgan Lees added 16 putaways. Mina Grant added 35 digs in the Vulcan victory.

Academy of Art is back in action on a different Hawaiian island tomorrow evening. The Urban Knights travel to Oahu where they take on Hawaii Pacific at 7 p.m. HT (10 p.m. PT).

"For the HPU match, we want to continue the progress of more transition opportunities and take the initiative to bounce back from our errors more quickly," said Batalon.