Box Score

Belmont, CA ---  The Academy of Art women's volleyball team closed their 2010 season with a tough loss to Notre Dame de Namur in five sets (25-15, 19-25, 25-14, 19-25, 12-15). With the loss, the Urban Knights finish their season in a two way tie for fourth place with Dixie State College. Despite their loss tonight, Head Coach Allison Magner has nothing but positive things to say about her team that closed their season two spots higher in the PacWest Standings than predicted. “I am very proud of our perseverance as a team throughout the season, we have dealt with a lot of adversity,” said Coach Magner.

Judging by the first set, it looked as if the Urban Knights would make easy work of the Argo's. ART U quickly jumped ahead on NDNU with six unanswered points to start the match. The Urban Knights would extend their lead to 14-6 before forcing the Argo's to call a timeout to regroup. NDNU fired back with two quick points after the timeout, but the Urban Knights' Dan Yang was too much for the Argo's to handle. The senior registered five of her 11 kills down the stretch to put ART U in position to take game one, 25-15.

The Argo's made some adjustments during the break and came into set two with fire in their eyes. The Urban Knights found themselves down early in the set, as NDNU opened the game on a 6-3 run. The set didn't get any better for the Knights as senior Dan Yang went down with a game ending injury. After slamming down a kill to bring the Urban Knights to within six points, 18-12, Phooey left the game due to an ankle injury. ART U rallied on without their leading scorer but, unfortunately, game two went to the Argo's, 19-25.

Ready for redemption, the Urban Knights entered into the third set with their eye on the win. The Urban Knights never trailed in the third game and hit an impressive .278 while keeping the Argo's to a -.054 hitting percentage. In the absence of Yang, Amy Bush stepped up her game play, finishing the set with seven of her game high 11 kills. ART U closed the set with an 8-0 run, 25-14. "Amy and Angela played exceptionally well for us tonight," Magner added. "Caitlin and Melissa also played very well for us."

The Urban Knights were on the losing end of two really close matches and ended up dropping the game in five sets. "We lost momentum and we just have not matured into the team that gets the job done," said Magner. "To their credit, NDNU played solid defense tonight."

NDNU was led by Christin Villamayor who finished the game with a match high 17 kills, 12 digs and two blocks. Ashley Fox added 10 kills and three blocks.

Despite going down in the second set, Dan Yang finished her final game as an Urban Knight with 11 kills. Amy Bush and Angela Heath each had 11 kills in the match as well. Camille Board and Nicolette Hagan both chipped in with eight kills a piece, with Hagan notching 14 digs. Melissa Cheng led all players with 45 assists to go with her six kills.

ART U finishes their season with a 9-7 record in the PacWest and a 15-12 overall record. "I'm excited about where this team is going, we have a very bright future!" Magner closed.