KANEOHE, Hawaii – It was literally like swimming with sharks Friday night inside St. Andrew's Priory. Both Academy of Art University volleyball and Hawaii Pacific expended great effort as neither side scoring fewer than 23 points in any set during this Pacific West Conference battle. Though the Urban Knights got a season-high 17 kills from junior outside hitter
Melissa Brum, the Sharks ended up snatching a 3-1 win.
"I was really proud of hard our team fought tonight," said head coach
Ray Batalon. "It was great to see Mel finding a rhythm with Rachael again. I also thought we got some key kills from our another attackers that gave us the opportunity and a chance to win sets. Overall it was a good team performance and we are heading in the right direction."
Despite facing a deficit to start the first set, ART U came back with a vengeance, rattling off five unanswered points including three kills from Brum. Even through a 21-21 score, the match literally swung in favor of the Knights as a kill and ace by freshman outside hitter
Stine Raben mixed with a HPU error to put the visitors up 24-21. Two kills by the Sharks posed a threat, but it was sophomore middle blocker
Amorelle Applin who administered the final blow to win 25-23.
Hawaii Pacific held a small lead for much of the second set, however, a solid offensive contribution came from sophomore outside hitter
Bailey Soolsma to help ART U storm back. A kill by Applin tied it up 24-24, but a HPU kill coupled with a Knights error made the match even after the Sharks took the set 26-24.
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Though Hawaii Pacific gained an 8-1 advantage to start set three, it ended up being the closest one of all. A momentum shift came midway through as Academy of Art used a 5-0 run capped by a service ace from junior libero
Kabrina Speakman to take a 17-15 lead. The scores would remain rather even the rest of the way as 11 ties ensued with both sides struggling to capitalize on set points. It was not until HPU got back-to-back kills that they went ahead with the 30-28 end result.
The Sharks took command of the fourth set early on and forced the issue with numerous attacks by Pomai Recca and Elizabeth Culpepper. After multiple runs put HPU ahead 15-4, the Knights did not give up. Two consecutive kills by Brum came during a four-point swing, but the big comeback came late with ART U facing a 23-14 deficit. Denying Hawaii Pacific's chance to set up match point, Speakman delivered three straight service aces and another two points later to keep what became an incredible 10-2 run going. HPU, however, managed to barely get the kill it needed and won the set 25-23 to take the match.
Now 4-7 overall and 0-3 in PacWest play, Academy of Art had contributions up and down the box score in this hard-fought defeat. Brum led the way with the aforementioned season-high 17 kills along with nine digs while Raben added 15 kills and eight digs. Smith turned in a double-double by way of 44 assists and 10 digs a defensive performance complemented by another career-high in digs with 20 from Speakman. Freshman defensive specialist
Alana Lucas turned in 11 digs and Soolsma came through with nine kills as well as four blocks. Sophomore middle blocker
Margaret Winkler finished with a team-high five blocks.
Hawaii Pacific improves to 8-3 overall and remains an undefeated 3-0 in conference play. Recca led the way with a match-high 18 kills and nine digs while Tenika Wentworth had a double-double of her own with 39 assists and 12 digs. Three other Sharks had nine kills or more.
ART U completes its PacWest Hawaii roadtrip with a 2 p.m. HT (5 p.m. PT) first serve against BYU-Hawaii inside the Cannon Activities Center tomorrow.
"For tomorrow, we want to continue working hard and efficiently," said Batalon. "BYU-Hawaii still has a great setter who can distribute the ball well to her hitters. The key for us will be to serve aggressively at them so we can take them out of their offense and capitalize on critical points in the game."
