Box Score

Photo Gallery (images by Rob Garcia & Lindsay Schutzman)

Belmont, CA -- The Urban Knights women's volleyball team stormed back into the win column on Saturday night, rebounding from a hard week to take the third game of their road trip in three straight sets. Academy of Art had their most efficient night of the season, and their fifth-most efficient night in history on the attacking front, hitting .402 as a team to put away Notre Dame de Namur 25-19, 25-19, and 27-25.

The night started off right for Academy of Art (6-15, 2-8 PWC), who took a 3-0 lead in the first set. After runs by both teams kept it close throughout, Taylor Suchy got back to back kills to make it a 17-14 game. Another two-kill run by Suchy made it 22-17 in the first, and the set ended with an ace from Brittany Ulmer to give the Knights the 1-0 advantage. The first set was indicative of the rest of the night, as Suchy's six kills in the opener paced the field.

"Tonight our outside hitters did a fantastic job of setting the pace," said head coach Ed Jackson. "We weren't actually passing particularly well in the first set but our outside hitters did a fantastic job finding ways to score. We hit for a very high efficiency, so hats off to our team for doing that tonight."

That success carried over into the second set against the Argos (1-18, 0-10 PWC), as the Urban Knights again jumped out to an early advantage. NDNU would take brief leads, but every time they did, ART U would answer back, as they got key kills from Angel Heath in the middle of the second set. A kill from Suchy, one of her six in the second set, made it 16-12, and another pushed the Knights advantage to 20-16. Then, with the score 22-19 and the Argos threatening to get back in it, a kill from Caitlin Boring started a three-point run to close it out and make it a 2-0 game in favor of Academy of Art.

But the most important set in volleyball is the one that closes it out, and the Knights and Argos saved their most competitive set for last. In a set that saw 10 ties and two very important swings, the Argos drew first blood. Then, with the score 7-6 in the Argos advantage, Suchy got things started again with a kill that sparked a 5-0 run by the Knights to make it 11-7. Then it was NDNU's turn again, as they took an 18-13 lead after a kill by Anna Jayo and looked to force a fourth set.

The Knights had one more burst in their systems, and roared back to tie the game late at 23-23. Then, with Jordan Cotton serving, Lindsay Elgin and Holli "Ka'ena" Kaina combined for a big block to give the Knights the lead. NDNU followed that with an attack error, but got two points back to tie the game again at 25-25. The tying point came on a unique finish by Kaina. The sophomore from Honolulu, HI took the set from Rachel Smith and sent it over the net, but two Argonauts also rose up for the block. In a matter of seconds, the ball was blocked by the Argos, then bounced off of Kaina's face, who was still in the air, and back over the NDNU side. With the blockers already out of position, the ball landed on the ground and gave the Urban Knights a critical advantage.

"The energy from the team was really good," said Suchy. "Collectively we had a really positive attitude, and Rachel [Smith]'s setting was perfect. We haven't been finishing games all the time, and as a team we decided that we weren't going to take it anymore, so we put our best foot forward and did the best that we could."

From tied 25-25, it was the Urban Knights who would close it out on an attack error by Lauren Frost and then an emphatic kill by Elgin. ART U would celebrate a 3-0 sweep which came as a result of hard work and determination.

Suchy led all players with 17 kills, hitting .654 along the way. The Urban Knights set a single-set mark for the season with their second set, hitting .593 as a team.

"I'm really proud of Taylor, she did a great job rebounding," said Jackson. "She had a difficult night last night, but she did a great job of recovering and putting on a phenomenal performance tonight."

Caitlin Boring had eight kills, while Smith had 39 assists from the setter position. Janelle Burnett had 14 digs, and Angela Heath added 10 digs on the defensive side, while the Knights continued to out block their opponents, this time 9-2. The Knights will host Hawai'i Pacific on Thursday and BYU-Hawai'i on Friday next week at home to continue their season. Sign up for a FAN BUS at the following link: