BELMONT, Calif. – Hawai'i Pacific University fell to Academy of Art 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in PacWest Conference action at Gleason Gym.
 
The Sharks (2-12, 1-15) lost to the Urban Knights (5-9, 2-4) 24-26, 14-25, 25-21, 14-25 and were swept in Northern California for the first time in program history.
 
The Sharks had their best hitting performance for the trip with a .190 attack percentage, and collected 4.0 team blocks. The Urban Knights hit .324 in the four set affair with 7.0 team blocks.
 
Senior Nicole Ferris of Woodstock, Ga./Etowah led the way for the Sharks with 12 kills and a .393 hitting percentage. Senior Kirah Boynton-Brown of Vancouver, Wash./Union and sophomore Ella Dotson of Tucson, Ariz./Marana each recorded nine kills with three blocks, while senior Lauren Christie of Lebanon, Ore./Lebanon also notched nine kills.
 
ART U was paced by Isaura Santos with 16 kills and a .452 hitting percentage. Ashley Meacham posted a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs. Sadie Emery led the Urban Knights with four kills.
 
The Sharks and ART U traded the lead six times in the first set with nine ties, but HPU held a 24-23 lead with the serve when the Urban Knights called a timeout. Coming out of the break, ART U wrecked the set point opportunity with a Meacham kill and then took advantage with an ace and a block to win the set 26-24.
 
HPU dropped the second set 25-14, but came back to win the third set building a lead and hanging on to with 25-21 after both teams suffered service errors.
 
In the final set, ART U jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back on the way to a 25-14 win.
 
The Sharks return to Honolulu to start a PacWest Conference homestand by hosting Concordia Irvine on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at The Shark Tank.