Box Score HAYWARD – After a strong opening two wins in three matches last weekend, Humboldt State looked to build upon that quality start on Friday.
 
Sophomore Kaitlyn Dunaway's 20-kill outing helped the Lumberjacks begin their four matches of the Route 92 Tournament off in fine fashion with a 3-1 victory over the Urban Knights of the Academy of Art.
 
For the third time, HSU dropped the opening set only to comeback and rattle off three-straight winning games.
 
Academy of Art (2-3), in fact, captured the first contest by double digits, 25-15.
 
Dunaway made her presence known the rest of the way starting in the second set. The second-year player pounded four kills in the final six points for a 25-20 HSU win.
 
In the third set with the Jacks trailing by 10 points, Dunaway sparked a 7-0 run with three kills in the first five points on the way to a 25-22 come from behind victory. The outside hitter finished the match with punctuating kills for the third win in a row, 25-22, to give HSU the match in four games.
 
The HSU (3-1) victory equals the 2012 win total of three, but in 22 fewer matches.
 
Along with her match-best 20 kills, Dunaway added 21 digs and a pair of block assists.
 
Ashley Owen, Symone Hayden and Courtney Debrunner all contributed nine kills apiece.
 
Owen had four blocks, four digs and an assist to go with her kills total.  Hayden produced 10 digs, two aces and an assist to her line.
 
Debrunner's nine kills were the freshman's early season high, while ending with three blocks and two digs.
 
Libero Kelci Renshaw dug 19 attacks, set three kills and lined a pair of aces.
 
In her first action of the year, Sam Siebert handed out 35 assists and dug nine balls.  Setter Erin Mitchell added seven assist and four digs.
 
Alex Hasenstab chipped in four kills, three blocks and two digs, while Danielle Carlson had a pair of key aces and six digs.
 
Rounding out the effort, Jacquelyn Callaway and Colleen Noonan both finished with two digs.
 
Leading the entire contest, the Urban Knights led 17-13 before they finished the first game on an 8-2 run for the 25-15 victory.
 
Tied at 10 in game two, an Academy of Art hitting error followed by a Dunaway kill would edge HSU ahead, 19-17, for a lead it would not give up. Dunaway went on to have four kills in the final six points of the 25-20 win to even the match at a game each.
 
The Urban Knights scored the opening five points and increased the margin to 7-1 to begin the second set.  With a 9-6 score, the Academy of Art put the next eight points on the board for its largest lead of 17-6.
 
Trailing 20-10, the Jacks went on their own 7-0 spurt powered by three Dunaway kills and two Renshaw aces to make it 20-17. 
 
After one Urban Knight point, the Jacks put three more points on the board, before eventually tying the game, 22-22 behind a Debrunner kill and a Hayden ace.
 
HSU completed the comeback by scoring the final five points for the 25-22 win as Owen killed two attacks and Debrunner added her own for the final point.
 
In a tight fourth contest, the two teams could not pull ahead by more than a four-point difference the entire game.  HSU enjoyed a 14-10 short-lived lead before Academy of Art answered to see the game have four more ties to rest at a 22-22 score.
 
Carlson laced her second ace of the set, before Dunaway punished two more kills to end the match and third HSU game win for the 25-22 final.
 
HSU will have its second match of the day starting at 3 p.m. against Northwest Nazarene also played at Cal State East Bay.
 
###