SAN FRANCISCO – Inside SF State's Main Gym to start the West Region Volleyball Classic on Friday, Academy of Art University volleyball saw redshirt senior middle blocker Safua Elisaia take one step closer to becoming the program's all-time blocks leader. Despite 3-0 losses to Montana State Billings (25-21, 25-15, 25-14) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (25-14, 25-14, 25-16), Elisaia rose her career block total to 271 now behind only Margaret Winkler's 303 rejections.

MATCH 1 – MSUB 3, ART U 0 
The Urban Knights and Yellowjackets started off the day at 8:30 a.m. with a closely-contested opening set. Following a stretch with three kills from Elisaia, the teams faced a 20-20 score, but a 5-1 push ended the set in favor of Montana State Billings 25-21.

Sophomore middle blocker Sadie Emery posted two kills in the first three points of the second set and another back-and-forth battle ensued until a 9-3 surge by MSUB put them ahead 21-13. In the end, the Yellowjackets finished off the set victory 25-15.

A 6-0 run by the visitors spelled the difference midway through the third frame as ART U could not recover from a 13-6 deficit and ultimately fell 25-14, but not before Elisaia registered her fourth block to tie Amy Bush for second in career rejections in program history.

MATCH 2 – CSUDH 3, ART U 0
Facing a Cal State Dominguez Hills team that had come off a five-set loss to UH Hilo earlier in the day, Academy of Art got five kills from Emery in its first set, but did not find its way back from 4-0 and 5-0 pushes by the Toros to the 25-14 final.

CSUDH started the second set up 8-1 and rode that momentum to another 25-14 result before back-to-back block assists by Elisaia came early in the third frame. Her defense combined with solid offense to help keep the Knights close and tie it up 10-10. From that point, a pair of 6-0 runs eventually earned the Toros the sweep with a 25-16 end score.

"We still need to learn to minimize our errors and work to win the serve and receive battle," said head coach Allen McCreary. "We will have to serve tough and keep our hitters hitting positive."

Academy of Art, who had Elisaia and Emery both tie for the lead in kills in each contest on Friday, is now 0-6 on the year with two more matches to complete its West Region Volleyball Crossover tomorrow – hosting Saint Martin's (1 p.m.) and SF State (7:45 p.m.).