Box Score

St. George, UT -- The Academy of Art volleyball team showed much improvement from their first game last night. They showed resilience by mustering up just enough energy to earn the victory.

Sophomore outside hitter Dan Yang had 18 kills and Olivia White dished out 20 assists as Academy of Art University held on for a 25-21, 14-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-13 victory over Dixie State on Saturday at the Old Gym. Although the Urban Knights (12-7) won't have their games count toward a Pac West Championship until next season, Head Coach Marcus Young said the team is focusing on being competitive out of the box.

“The whole match was a battle,” Young said. “After (Friday's) match, the players had a long meeting and talked about playing a better mental game. We can't let other teams take control.

“We (are bigger than) most teams, but Dixie State has some size, too.”

Yang is one of four Urban Knights who stand 6-foot-2.

Neither side had much control in the match. After a pair of Katie Luna kills helped DSC (6-8 overall) close out Game 4, the Urban Knights got two putaways from Yang in a four-point run that was good for a 10-8 lead.

Following a timeout, a kill from Mariesa Nielson and a tandem block from Luna and Amanda Goodell helped DSC pull into an 11-11 tie. After the teams exchanged two points each, the Urban Knights closed out the match when Anna Bullard netted a serve and sophomore outside hitter KaUwila Lavea put away the last of her 14 kills.

“We had a rollercoaster of a day,” said Cami Johnson, who led DSC with 20 kills. “We started to get down (after Game 1), but we decided to play in the end. We have an issue with finishing the fifth game, but we'll be working on that in practice.”

DSC Head Coach Gregg Jensen added his own analogy on the ending.

“That fifth game wasn't bad, but it ended too soon,” he said. “It's like the football team that loses on the last play: We didn't lose, we just didn't have enough time.”

The Urban Knights led throughout in winning the opening game, but Dixie State turned the tables to even the match in Game 2. After Academy of Art posted the Game 3 win, Dixie State stayed in control in Game 4 after a Luna kill gave her squad a 9-8 lead.