MONTECITO, Calif. – Exploding out of the gate with fiery offense, Academy of Art volleyball held a 2-1 lead in sets on Westmont, but the Warriors managed to rally back on their home floor of Murchison Gymnasium to win 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-8) in Pacific West Conference action on Saturday afternoon.

The sides went back-and-forth early with the Urban Knights swinging momentum on five unanswered points including two service aces by senior setter Elly McInerney to go up 12-10. After Westmont retook the lead 19-15, points were traded until kills by junior right side/middle blocker Katherine Von Kraut and sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Alohi Garcia made it 24-22. The home team, however, would prevail 25-22 despite the second-highest single-set hitting percentage (.423) for ART U this season.

Two more McInerney service aces keyed a 5-0 run that put Academy of Art in front 14-7 to begin the second frame. Though the Warriors pulled within three at 20-17, the Knights had the answer as graduate student opposite Claire Ricard delivered two kills then graduate student middle blocker Chandra Reed sent down the 25-19 set point.

With Westmont ahead 16-14 in the third set, ART U executed a decisive 6-0 surge featuring kills from four different Knights including graduate student middle blocker/outside hitter Fina Tuinauvai and freshman outside hitter Kerrigan Habing. Academy of Art then held a 20-16 advantage. After McInerney sent over a sixth service ace to equal the second-most in the program's single-match history, her squad would cap another 25-19 victory on Alohi Garcia's 11th kill of the afternoon.

A fourth set 5-5 deadlock was broken by the Warriors' eight consecutive scores as five points was the closest ART U came thereafter in what ended as a 25-17 match-evening result. The final frame opened with Westmont up 8-1 and, though the margin was closed to four at 12-8 on multiple Tuinauvai blocks and a kill from Von Kraut, three last points for the home team enabled them to win 15-8.

Posting its third-highest collective hitting percentage (.205) and highest block total (11) this season, ART U shifts to 6-17 on the year and 5-10 against PacWest opponents despite Von Kraut ending one kill shy of her career-high with 18 on the day while sporting a team-best .368 hitting percentage. Alohi Garcia added 13 kills to tie her season high for the third time in 2024 and matched her career high of 11 digs for her second double-double of the season.

Ricard's 10 kills rounded out the Knights in double figures, McInerney amassed 20 assists with seven digs and six service aces, and senior setter Lina Ellilä was just behind her teammate with 19 assists. Sophomore libero LC-Reece Nakagawa collected 11 digs for her 18th consecutive outing in double digits, Tuinauvai offered four block assists plus one solo block, and Reed had two solo blocks among her four total.

With the day's result, Westmont moves to 12-9 overall and 7-7 in conference play. The tandem of Sara Kreuger and Audrey Hyde posted 15 kills apiece to lead the Warriors.

A rematch with Jessup is up next for ART U with the Knights traveling to Rocklin on Nov. 9.