FRESNO, Calif. – It was a team effort for the record books Saturday inside the Special Events Center as Academy of Art volleyball had some of the best individual performances to date in an exhilarating 3-2 (25-22, 25-17, 25-27, 19-25, 15-10) victory over Fresno Pacific. The Pacific West Conference contest was highlighted by four double-doubles which included the most kills and digs in junior middle blocker Sadie Emery's career and an assist total from sophomore setter Picabo Reinhold that tied the program record.

"We focus on everyone doing their job for the sake of the team," said head coach Allen McCreary. "That's what we preach. In the fifth set, we talked about being more aggressive with our servers which in return gave us more free balls and we are hard to stop when we transition with our middles."

The first set was even until a 7-1 run by the Sunbirds put them up 16-10. Two kills apiece then came for Emery, junior middle blocker Carly Evetts, and junior outside hitter Mariana Figueroa Ferriera during an immediate 9-1 response as ART U retook the lead.  After miscues gave the Urban Knights a 22-21 advantage, junior outside hitter Ashley Pawlak and sophomore middle blocker Jillian Wheaton combined for the final four kills, ensuring the 25-22 victory to start.

An early lead for Fresno Pacific was wiped away by five unanswered points from Academy of Art including two more kills for Emery. The Knights would go on to build a 17-10 margin then 23-14 as Pawlak and Emery continued to score. In the end, ART U gained a 2-0 advantage on a block assist by Wheaton and Emery for the 25-17 final.

Emery sent down three kills during a 5-0 surge in the opening segment of the third set, but an 8-1 comeback from FPU midway through the frame put the home team on top. The squads would find themselves tied 18-18 and four times thereafter before two kills from Wheaton sandwiched one from Emery for a chance at match point with the Knights up 24-22. Incredibly, Fresno Pacific would execute a 5-1 run, effectively denying the sweep twice and staying alive after a 27-25 set win.

Neither team gained much of a lead in the fourth set until a 10-3 Sunbirds shift put them up 19-12. The sides traded points thereafter before FPU had an opportunity to force a final frame ahead 24-16. Academy of Art began to create some doubt in their opponents' heads, repaying the favor of three set points denied, but a service error would indeed mean a fifth frame was necessary after Fresno Pacific evened the sets with a 25-19 victory.

ART U wasted no time in the decisive set, opening with a 3-0 run capped by Reinhold's first service ace of the afternoon. Wheaton, Emery, Pawlak, and Evetts all contributed kills thereafter to get Academy of Art an 8-3 advantage. Following the change of sides, the biggest move was made on a 4-0 outburst bookended by kills from Emery for the 12-4 lead. The Sunbirds made one final push with four straight, but ultimately a FPU attack error followed by a kill from Figueroa Ferriera finished the set 15-10 and the match.

With the triumph, Academy of Art improved to 6-11 overall and 4-6 in PacWest play. In a match that saw the Urban Knights tie the assists record (70) while totaling the second-most digs (122) and fourth-most kills (71) in program history, Emery was at the forefront with her first career double-double taking the form of career-highs with both 24 kills and 19 digs. The 24 kills tied her with Melissa Brum and Dan Yang for the fifth-most in ART U history. Reinhold crushed her previous assists career-high with 63, tying her with Rachael Smith for the Academy of Art single-game record, while adding the most blocks of her career (five) and 18 digs for her team-best 12th double-double.

Pawlak produced her seventh double-double of the year with 15 kills and a season-high 32 digs which tied the program's fifth-most to date. Finishing with 10 kills and a career-high 24 digs, Figueroa Ferriera offered her sixth double-double in an ART U uniform while junior libero Michaela Charrette had a breakout match with 26 digs to set her new career-high. At the forefront of the offense was Wheaton's 13 kills (on a team-best .480 hitting percentage) and nine kills plus a season-best five blocks from Evetts.

Dropping their eighth-straight, Fresno Pacific moves to 2-16 on the season and 1-8 in conference action. Makena Ogas finished with a team-high 12 kills while Corinne Acosta added 11 digs plus 28 digs.

Hitting the midway mark of a five-part series of road contests, ART U next travels to Southern California to take on Biola (Oct. 18) and Concordia (Oct. 19) in back-to-back PacWest rematches.

"We still have a lot to work on and this week will be tough because Biola is one of the top teams in our conference and Concordia will be looking for a revenge from the first time we played them," said McCreary. "We have to be more consistent in harder matches and force teams to play our game."