SAN FRANCISCO – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team rebounded from Tuesday's shocking defeat to Notre Dame de Namur to down Academy of Art 27-25, 29-27, 25-28 Thursday at Kezar Pavillion.
The Silverswords improved to 16-7 overall and 9-6 in the Pacific West Conference while the Urban Knights fell to 6-17 and 2-13.
Keani Passi slammed down 16 kills and had 13 digs while hitting .517 on the night.
Kim Spring added 11 kills and 11 digs for the 'Swords.
Melissa Brum had a match-high 17 kills for ART U.
Suncica Bakic,
Cassie Rushlow and
Daisia LaBrie had seven kills each for Chaminade while
Natashya Enos and
Kasse-Ann Kiriu-Dela Cruz combined for 35 assists.
Brenda Walker had 15 digs for the royal blue and white. Spring and Kiriu-Dela Cruz also combined for six of the team's eight service aces.
The 'Swords opened up a 10-4 lead in the first set but the Knights went on a 13-4 run to take a 17-14 lead. LaBrie and Spring had kills and teamed up on a pair of blocks to jump-start an 8-2 run that gave Chaminade a 22-19 lead. ART U crept back and tied it at 25 before Passi put down back-to-back attacks that gave the 'Swords the win for a 1-0 lead.
In the second set, Rushlow opened with consecutive kills then Passi took over. The senior put down three kills and a service ace to give the Silverswords a 10-5 advantage which eventually swelled to 17-11. But the Urban Knights battled back, taking advantage of five Chaminade hitting and ball-handling errors to overtake the visitors and were serving for the set at 24-21. But the 'Swords didn't go away as they scored four straight as Rushlow and Passi combined for three kills to surge past the Urban Knights to force set point at 25-24. The teams then traded two points each then tied at 27, Spring put down an attack to set up set point then Chaminade ended it as LaBrie and Rushlow pushed back Sydney Kohler to win the second set in thrilling fashion to go up 2-0.
In Set 3, the 'Swords opened up a 16-12 lead before the Knights closed to 18-16. But Chaminade slammed the door shut forcing an attack error followed by a pair of Passi kills to go up by five. Spring's consecutive aces set up aloha ball and a point later, Rushlow ended the match with the winning attack.
The 'Swords hit .288 in the match, including .360 in the second set and .314 in the third while limiting ART U to .197 on the night. Chaminade also out-blocked the Knights 6-3.
The 'Swords wrap up their Bay Area jaunt Saturday at Holy Names.
