San Francisco, CA – In front of a huge Battle of the Halls crowd, ART U Volleyball found itself with a bit of déjà vu from their previous match. All even after two sets, the Urban Knights united with a strong all-around effort against Dixie State, but the Red Storm ended up pulling out the 3-1 win by way of 25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22 set scores. Sophomore Melissa Brum's 19 kills led four Academy of Art players reaching double-digits in that category.

In the opening set, the Red Storm started off by taking an 8-3 lead only to see it evaporate after ART U's 7-3 response which featured back-to-back kills from Brittany Ulmer and later Brum slammed home a pair. From 12-12, Dixie State again worked its way in front 19-14, but the Knights did not give in. They stormed back riding an 8-2 burst finished off by a Brum put-away that tied things up 22-22. In the end, DSU scored three of the final four points, securing the first set 25-23.

Eager to bounce back, ART U quickly established a 10-6 second set advantage by way of kills from Isabel Emirch, Ulmer, and Emily Papale. Dixie State crept close, down 16-15 at one point, but the Knights did not relinquish their lead and later scored six unanswered with Papale and Emrich doing damage. The Red Storm's late comeback was not enough as Academy of Art evened the match with a 25-20 set victory.

The teams went back and forth following an eventful 10-minute intermission featuring Battle of the Halls cheering, a serving competition, and the ART U Drumline. Five ties in the early going soon led to an 8-2 Academy of Art surge highlighted by four kills from Papale and three by Emrich to give the Knights a 12-7 lead. DSU's Shelby Sorenson served right back, however, and scored seven straight points including two aces. ART U was unable to recover from that deficit which turned into six shortly thereafter and eventually ended with Dixie on top 25-17.

Set four went the Red Storm's way early as the visitors captured a 5-2 margin to start. They later pushed it to 15-7, but an impressive Academy of Art rebuttal began with Ulmer's kill to make it 16-9. That commenced an 11-2 push finalized by put-aways from Brum and Emrich, ultimately giving the Knights a 19-18 lead. The teams worked their way into a 22-22 deadlock before three straight points by the Red Storm ended the set 25-22 and the match.

A complete team effort for the Urban Knights (6-5 overall, 1-2 PacWest) saw three athletes turn in double-doubles. Brum went for 19 kills and 15 digs (her ninth of the season), Emrich finished with 13 kills and 16 digs, and finally Papale added 12 kills and 15 digs. Ulmer's 10 kills made her the fourth ART U player to register double-digits and Kanoe Irvine posted double-digit digs with 16 in total. Rachael Smith had her 15th career match with 50+ assists, finishing at 51 in this one.

ART U completes its three matches in three days with California Baptist in town on Saturday set for first serve at 3:00 PM inside Kezar Pavilion. FAN BUS sign ups here!