FRESNO, Calif. – Four closely-contested sets made up Saturday's Pacific West Conference rematch between Academy of Art volleyball and Fresno Pacific, but despite ART U's 15-2 surge during a breakthrough third frame, the Sunbirds held off a further comeback in their 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20) win. Four Urban Knights finished with eight kills or more and another quartet collected double-digit dig totals apiece in the team's third-highest dig count of the season (74).

Back-to-back kills from redshirt senior opposite Kiersten Kerch helped ART U take an early lead, but the momentum soon swung to the home team at 11-7. Freshman outside hitter Ashley Mecham then provided her own pair of kills to spark a 6-2 response that tied things up at 13-13. Short runs were traded before the opening set's final stages came with FPU holding a 21-20 advantage. Mecham sent down her sixth kill of the frame, but Fresno Pacific ended up scoring four of the final six points for a 25-22 result.

That push extended into the second set which began with the Sunbirds ahead 12-5. Consecutive kills from freshman middle blocker and redshirt junior Celena Davison helped cut the margin down to four at 16-12 then freshman outside hitter Katherine Von Kraut and Mecham did the same to make it 20-16. Unfortunately five of the last seven scores went FPU's way to put them up by two sets following a 25-18 win.

Unfazed by the Sunbirds' 6-2 beginning to the third frame, Academy of Art got two kills from senior middle blocker/opposite Sadie Emery amid a 7-1 surge to knot the score at 12-12 before an impressive 8-0 run propelled the Knights to a 20-13 lead. Mecham, Delone, and Von Kraut started the push, consecutive combined blocks from Delone and Mecham continued it, and junior setter Picabo Reinhold provided back-to-back service aces en route to what was a 15-2 difference-making ART U run. Reinhold later teamed up with Von Kraut, Davison, and Delone for kills and soon the Knights had triumphed 25-18.

The fourth set saw Fresno Pacific use a 7-1 move to get up 10-7 in the early going, but Academy of Art caught fire once again, scoring six unanswered points with three consecutive put-aways by Von Kraut. With the lead thereafter, ART U held onto it tightly, but five straight from the Sunbirds allowed them to move ahead 22-19 before FPU ultimately took the set 25-20 and the match.

Academy of Art, now 5-12 overall and 2-7 in conference play on the season, saw the tandem of Mecham and Von Kraut turn in 15 and 14 kills respectively. Mecham's 18 digs resulted in her ninth double-double of the season. Delone contributed a season-high nine kills and Davison added eight kills along with a career-high 15 digs. Reinhold amassed a match-high 45 assists with 10 digs for her sixth double-double this year and freshman libero Elena Torres led ART U with 19 digs.

Sharing a 2-7 PacWest record in addition to their 5-14 mark this year, Fresno Pacific was led by a match-high 19 kills from Corinne Acosta while Makena Ogas added 13 kills, Caite Speas finished with 44 assists, and Chantel Montayre paced all competitors with 25 digs.

The Urban Knights will make their second trip down to Southern California for their first meetings with Biola (Oct. 21) and Concordia (Oct. 22).