SAN FRANCISCO – In the teams' second meeting of the season, Academy of Art and Chaminade donned pink jerseys with breast cancer awareness at the forefront of their minds on Saturday afternoon. Participating in a nationwide movement to inspire student-athletes to come together in support of the stage IV breast cancer community, the Urban Knights and Silverswords faced off inside Kezar Pavilion with the visitors coming away with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-15) win.
"When our team puts on the dig pink jerseys, we feel we are representing more than ART U," said redshirt senior libero
Lyndsay Mlynar. "We feel we are representing and honoring the strong individuals who have fought or are currently fighting breast cancer. It's very humbling and I am honored that our team has the chance to partake in the 'Dig Pink' movement."
Chaminade initially took an 11-4 lead, but Academy of Art would respond with two separate 3-1 runs in response as redshirt senior middle blocker
Safua Elisaia, freshman middle blocker
Jillian Wheaton, and sophomore outside hitter
Ashley Pawlak all putting kills on the board. A 5-0 surge then came from ART U with Mlynar providing a service ace and Wheaton combining with Elisaia for a block then adding a kill. The push brought the Knights to within three points and, though Academy of Art found itself within striking distance at 23-20, the Silverswords put away the final two points for a 25-21 victory.
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From a 7-7 tie in the second frame, Chaminade used two 5-0 runs to go up 18-10, however, ART U came back with five unanswered points of its own on kills by Pawlak and junior opposite
Kiersten Kerch along with a Wheaton service ace. The visitors ended up closing out the 25-18 set win with a 7-3 momentum shift.
The Silverswords started the third set ahead 10-3, but that margin was closed to three points after Academy of Art scored six of the next eight with multiple kills from Pawlak and service aces by Mlynar as well as freshman setter
Picabo Reinhold. Chaminade, however, responded with 10 of the next 12 scores en route to a 25-15 result along with the sweep.
Head coach
Allen McCreary was appreciative of the team's participation in the Dig Pink movement, saying, "I am glad we bring awareness to this matter and how it touches everyone in some way."
Academy of Art moves to 0-23 overall and 0-15 in conference play this season. Pawlak finished with a team-high 13 kills plus seven digs while Reinhold added 21 assists and Mlynar posted 12 digs.
The day's result put Chaminade now at 16-4 on the year and 10-4 in the PacWest. Leading the Silverswords' three players with double-digit kills was Emma Tecklenburg who posted 14 kills.
ART U will turn around and host UH Hilo in another conference rematch tomorrow at 3 p.m. back inside Kezar Pavilion.
