HILO, Hawaii – Signing off on a season of many memorable moments, Academy of Art volleyball nearly added what would have been an incredible comeback on the road at UH Hilo on Saturday night. ART U rallied to triumph in the third and fourth sets, but the Vulcans prevailed 3-2 (25-17, 25-23, 15-25, 26-28, 15-6) inside their home gym in the end.

It did not take long for the Urban Knights to break the program's single-season digs record (from 2014) as they came in just five digs from doing so. On the other side of the net, the Vulcans were strong out of the gate, getting up 10-5 then 14-7 before junior middle blocker Carly Evetts and junior outside hitter Mariana Figueroa Ferriera offered back-to-back kills. At no point did the lead reach double digits, but after two Evetts putaways fended off potential set point conversions, UH Hilo grabbed a 25-17 win to start.

Through the first 20 points of the second set, the teams were tied eight times with the last at 10-10. Evetts was at it again with two more kills during a quick 4-0 burst, but the trend of deadlocks continued with seven more until the sides stared a scoreboard that read 23-23. The Vulcans managed to put down two kills thereafter to go up 2-0 with the 25-23 result.

Making up a 6-0 run to open the third frame was kills by sophomore outside hitter Celena Davison and Evetts as well as a pair of service aces from sophomore middle blocker Jillian Wheaton. That lead grew with a 5-1 run shortly thereafter and the Knights never trailed for the remainder of the set, staying alive with a 25-15 decision favoring Academy of Art.

ART U had built a 21-16 advantage late in the fourth set, but plenty of drama would ensue. Junior middle blocker/opposite Sadie Emery's fourth kill of the set got the Knights to 23-18, but four straight by the Vulcans was a bit of an omen because after Emery helped Academy of Art to a shot at set point, UH Hilo came right back. The home team soon had its own set point opportunity up 25-24, but the teams once again went back and forth until ART U outlasted for a 28-26 score to force a fifth frame.

Channeling the energy from a crowd of nearly 800 people on "Senior Night," the Vulcans were able to start the fifth set up 7-2 and proceeded to use runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to ultimately settle on a 15-6 final to win the match.

With very real NCAA Championship Tournament aspirations in their minds, UH Hilo completed its regular season at 23-7 overall and 18-4 in conference action. Though it was the seniors' day, freshman Emily Wade was the team's kills leader with 17.

Finishing its 2019 campaign with the second-highest win total in the program's NCAA Championship era (since 2012), ART U ends with a 12-18 overall record and 9-13 in PacWest play. Evetts posted 17 kills to match her season-high while Davison finished with a career-high 13 kills. Figueroa Ferriera added her ninth double-double of the year on 11 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore setter Picabo Reinhold's 53 assists were a match-high and junior libero Ashley Pawlak led the Knights with 18 digs, putting her just one in front of Lyndsay Mlynar on the career digs list with 1,052 in three seasons.