Box Score

Ellensburg, WA-- The Academy of Art University women's volleyball team made easy work of the #21 Western Washington Vikings today winning in straight sets 25-14, 25-23, 25-12 as part of the CWU Volleyball Invitational. For the Urban Knights, junior outside hitter Dan Yang (Beijing, China) had another breakout performance finishing the match with 24 kills and a .487 hitting percentage.

AAU (5-2) came out strong in the first set and soon opened up a 10-7 lead. The Knights would not relinquish the advantage for the rest of the way as Yang amassed 10 kills in the set alone for an impressive .714 hitting percentage. Head Coach Marcus Young noted that his squad was ready to play from the very beginning.

"We came out firing on all cylinders," Coach Young said. "We never let up. That's the best match we've played all season... ever. If we continue to play like that, we will win every set. We were very excited to beat a ranked team and that really shows where our program is right now."

Although Academy of Art established another lead in the second set, this one 10-5, the Vikings (5-3) responded and tied the game at 13-13. The teams battled through 11 ties before Western Washington appeared to find an opening when it went up 21-19. Two timeouts later, the Knights were down 23-20, but they reeled off five straight points to snatch the set away from WWU. Kills by Yang and sophomore middle blocker Camille Board along with a big block by freshman middle blocker Jill Singletary highlighted the comeback.

In the third and final set, AAU could not be stopped. Academy of Art never trailed with Yang exploding for eight more kills and the Vikings' offense went cold. WWU managed just a -.143 hitting percentage and the match belonged to the Urban Knights after a service ace by Yang.

"After we won the second set, it was our match," Coach Young said. "You could tell by the expressions on everyone's faces that it was our match. When the other team is serving, we need to sideout immediately and push points when we're serving."

Academy of Art University had big games from both Board and Singletary who combined for 10 block assists while freshman setter Melissa Cheng notched 39 assists. The Knights held Western Washington to just 30 digs (no Viking had more than 10) and a .048 hitting percentage overall.

WWU was led by outside hitter Marlayna Geary with eight kills, but those came with eight errors as well and setter Laurie Yearout finished with 25 assists.

"Phooey was in the zone every play," Coach Young said. "She did a fantastic job hitting and passing. Melissa did a great job setting the ball and creating opportunities for our hitters. The whole team was on today."

The Urban Knights finish tournament play with a match against Walla Walla University today at 2:00 PM.