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San Rafael, CA – Back inside Dominican's Conlan Rec Center, ART U Volleyball closed out the PacWest/GNAC Crossover with a win and a loss in its final pair of matches. After starting the day with a comeback that turned into a 3-1 win over Montana State Billings, the Urban Knights later sustained a tough 3-0 defeat at the hands of Simon Fraser.

ART U and MSUB found themselves tied several times early in the opening set as a variety of artist-athletes got in on the offense. Back-to-back kills by Melissa Brum and Isabel Emrich gave Academy of Art a 16-15 lead, but the Yellowjackets scored nine of the final 12 points to earn a 25-19 victory.

Facing a slight 12-10 deficit in the second, the Knights rattled off four straight only to see the momentum shift back the Montana State 16-14. From tied 21-21, Brum brought down two kills and ART U never looked back, finishing off the 25-23 set victory.

The third set was all Academy of Art early with kills from Brum, Emily Papale, and Emrich guiding the squad to an 11-6 advantage. The Yellowjackets rallied back to come within one point multiple times, but the Knights never surrendered their lead. The last four points went the way of ART U, ending on a Papale kill for the 25-20 win.

That momentum carried through to the fourth set which saw started with 9-2 Academy of Art run featuring a Margaret Winkler slam sandwiched between Brum's pair of kills. The Knights had three more runs in the frame, going 5-0, 5-1, and finally 6-1 to close out the dominant 25-14 resolution.

A balanced attack had Brum, who ended up making the All-Tournament Team, with a match-high 19 kills to go with seven digs and four block assists. Emrich and Papale each had double-doubles with the former going for 17 kills and 14 digs and the latter adding 10 kills with 16 digs. Kanoe Irvine contributed 15 digs and Winkler posted a match-high seven block assists.

"The morning match against Montana State-Billings was a good win for us against a physical team with size," head coach Ed Jackson said. "Everyone contributed to the victory."

In the final match of the tournament against Simon Fraser, ART U was locked in a battle early. From 11-11, however, The Clan scored six of seven and managed to hold onto that lead the rest of the way. Kills by Brittany Ulmer, Rachael Smith, and Brum kept the Knights close, but the end result was a 25-19 SFU win.

The second set followed a similar trajectory as Simon Fraser rose ahead 15-11, but this time Academy of Art used the arms of Brum, Ulmer, and Papale to fight back with an 8-4 push. The Knights' 22-21 lead was answered by The Clan who burst back ahead for a 25-23 set victory.

ART U claimed a 10-6 advantage to start the third and added a 5-1 run to go up 18-15. However, the ever resilient SFU squad came back to force an 18-18 tie then, from 22-22, finished off the sweep with a 25-22 triumph in the end.

The Knights, who had 13 kills from Papale as well as a double-double (10 kills, 12 digs) from Brum, conclude non-conference play with a 5-3 record.

"Hats off to Simon Fraser today," Coach Jackson said. "They played relaxed and under control leading to their three-set win. I thought we fought to win, but made errors at the critical points in sets two and three. Overall it's the best non-conference start since I've been head coach. I'm very proud of the team and look forward to opening PacWest Conference play."

ART U begins conference play this coming week when the Knights turn around and host Dominican on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 PM inside Kezar Pavilion.