GAME #5, 6
Thursday September 3, 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM
AAU Urban Knights (3-1) vs. Seattle Pacific University (3-2)*
AAU Urban Knights (3-1) vs. Central Washington University (3-1)*

GAME# 7, 8
Friday September 4, 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM
AAU Urban Knights (3-1) vs. Western Washington University (3-1)*
AAU Urban Knights (3-1) vs. Walla Walla University (2-2)*
Ellensburg, WA - Nicholson Pavilion
*as of 9/1/09

OPENING SERVE:
The Academy of Art women's volleyball team is coming off a successful trip to Alaska to start their season. The Urban Knights are 3-1 going into an upcoming tournament hosted by Central Washington University this coming weekend in Ellensburg Washington. Following their competition in the Extended Stay Invitational three Urban Knights were selected as members of the All-Tournament Team: Dan Yang (Beijing, China), who finished with the most kills of the tournament (60), Melissa Cheng (Sunnyvale, CA), who finished with 137 total assists, and Jelena Jakovljevic (Valjevo, Serbia), who had a career high 18 digs in their first match against Alaska Anchorage.

LOOKING BEYOND:
Following the Extended Stay Deluxe Invitational the Urban Knights will participate in two more tournaments, one hosted by Central Washington and one hosted by William Jessup. During those two tournaments they will face two AVCA top 25 ranked teams in Western Washington and Seattle Pacific University.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Seattle Pacific is 3-2 so far in their young season and is coming off one of their biggest wins of their programs history; they upset 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona in the Southern California Classic volleyball tournament on Saturday. The Falcons wound up settling for a split on the final day of the tournament as they dropped a four-gamer to Ashland University of Ohio after the upset. For the Falcons Sarah Risser is leading the team with 45 kills followed by Priscilla Collings with 32 although both are tied with 25 digs a piece. Cortney Weedman has the most assists so far with 59 and Amber Johnson and Paige Hoffman both have 11 solo blocks a piece.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Central Washington finished the Seawolf Spike Tournament with a 3-1 record, losing only to the Sonoma Seawolves in the title match. Senior Erin Norris, who totaled 14 aces in four matches, was selected to the all-tournament team. Erin Norris and Kadi Try were Central's main offensive threats in the match, totaling 10 and nine kills, respectively. Norris was also credited with the only CWU ace in the match. Brandie Vea led the Wildcats on defense totaling nearly half (31) of the Wildcats' 65 digs in the three-set match.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
The Vikings are 3-1 after finishing the Southern California Classic last week. Their only loss came at the hands of Cal State San Bernardino who is ranked #2 in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll. Western Washington freshman outside hitter Marlayna Geary was the Vikings biggest standout last week, having a team-best 64 kills (4.0 avg. per set) and 38 digs in the four matches. Outside hitter Megan Amundson had 45 kills and 34 digs, and middle blocker Emily Jepsen had 41 kills and a team-high 13 blocks.
Western finished 21-3 last year after being the NCAA II national runner-up in 2007.

SCOUTING THE WOLVES
The Walla Walla Wolves are 2-2 and are coming off a 3-0 win against Warner Pacific University. The Wolves are led offensively by Natalie Wilkening who has a total of 60 kills after four matches.

RECAP: EXTENDED STAY DELUXE TOURNAMENT:
The Urban Knights came out of the Extended Stay Deluxe Tournament hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage, 3-1. During their first match of the regular season, the Urban Knights defeated University of Mary in four sets (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-12). Sophomore outside hitter Dan Yang finished with a match-high 16 kills and junior outside hitter Jelena Jakovljevic followed close behind with 14 kills and a team-high four service aces.

After defeating University of Mary earlier in the day in the Extended Stay Deluxe Invitational, the Urban Knights took down host University of Alaska Anchorage 3-2 (28-26, 17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-10) in an impressive victory.  Dan Yang led the team in kills for the second straight match with 21 to go with 15 digs (tied her career-high) while Jelena Jakovljevic contributed 14 kills and a career-high 18 digs. Sophomore libero Nicolette Hagan had a career-high 18 digs of her own to tie Jakovljevic for the match-high.

In their rematch with host Alaska Anchorage in the Championship game the Academy of Art University was dealt its first loss of the season. The Seawolves won in four sets (25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 25-14) while the Knights struggled offensively with a .165 hitting percentage for the match.  Dan Yang still had 14 kills overall and sophomore middle blocker Amy Bush added nine kills with a .444 hitting percentage.