2016 Volleyball Schedule

SAN FRANCISCO – Approaching the program's ninth year of competition, Academy of Art University volleyball head coach Ray Batalon has officially announced the Urban Knights' 2016 schedule. The fall season will feature 29 matches primarily versus West Region rivals including all 13 other teams in a Pacific West Conference that boasted nine squads with double-digit wins in 2015.

"The end goal with this year's schedule was to maximize our opportunity to compete in our region as much as possible," said Batalon. "With the strength of volleyball within the West Region, it was beneficial for us to stick fairly close to home and play as many teams in our region as possible with the GNAC and CCAA."

ART U's campaign begins with a doubleheader on Sept. 2 to start the Route 92 Showdown Tournament hosted by Cal State East Bay both Notre Dame de Namur. The morning's season opener inside Pioneer Gym pits the Knights against Humboldt State and the nightcap will be versus CSUEB. One day later on Sept. 3, Academy of Art will get its first-ever look at Barry of the Sunshine State Conference in a match held at NDNU's Walter Gleason Gym before hitting Route 92 to face Chico State back in Hayward in the evening. Both Barry (14-12) and Chico State (17-14) finished 2015 with records above .500.

The second and final non-conference tournament for ART U will be the West Region Crossover which, in a twist from the previous two years, will collectively mix teams from the PacWest, GNAC, and CCAA. In a return to Pioneer Gym, the Knights open with Saint Martin's the evening of Sept. 8 then match up with Cal State San Marcos and Cal State Monterey Bay both on Sept. 9. It is Academy of Art and host Cal State East Bay who square off for the second time in the Sept. 10 finale.

"I see the PacWest this year having the potential to send three teams to the tournament," said Batalon. "A lot of key pieces for many of the teams return this year and, with the inclusion of the CCAA in our Regional Crossover, our conference will have the opportunity to showcase our teams. If our teams can do well there, we will have a much more compelling argument to the selection committee at the end of the year."

PacWest Conference play then commences on Sept. 17 with a trip to Dominican before one last non-conference match at Stanislaus State (Sept. 20). After splitting a pair last year, the Knights moved to 10-7 all-time against the Penguins.

Sept. 23 marks the first home game for Academy of Art and it will come against an Azusa Pacific team that the ART U defeated 3-1 in their lone 2015 pairing. As the Knights continue what will be a four-game homestand, Concordia comes to town on Sept. 24 then 2014 PacWest Champion BYU-Hawaii makes its way to Kezar Pavilion on Sept. 28. The stretch ends with a Dominican rematch on Oct. 3.

In its annual adventure, Academy of Art then travels to Hawaii for three matches all on the island of Oahu. Chaminade is first up on Oct. 7 followed by BYU-Hawaii once again on Oct. 8, then the Knights' first look at Hawaii Pacific on Oct. 10. After the four-game homestand, the Hawaii roadtrip will make it 13 of ART U's first 17 matches that are away from Kezar Pavilion.

"It's always imperative for us to learn how to compete in other gyms," said Batalon. "We always want to make the post-season and compete for a championship. In order to do so, we have to learn to win matches away from our home gym."

The Knights return to the Bay Area in mid-October to face much of the PacWest's Northern California pod with NDNU (Oct. 15) and Holy Names (Oct. 20) both in San Francisco and Fresno Pacific (Oct. 22) on the road. Academy of Art goes in a combined 23-8 against NDNU and HNU.

After hosting PacWest Champion Dixie State on Oct. 29, ART U heads to Southern California for stops at Azusa Pacific (Nov. 2), California Baptist (Nov. 3), and Point Loma (Nov. 5). Last season, the Knights defeated CBU for the second time in the teams' most recent three meetings, but will face the challenge of playing inside Van Dyne Gym on this occasion. A second contest against NDNU then comes Nov. 10 before the home-heavy end of Academy of Art's regular season.

ART U starts a three-part homestand with UH Hilo on Nov. 12 then rematches Chaminade on Nov. 14 and Fresno Pacific on Nov. 17 for "Senior Knight." The regular season then comes to a close on the road at Holy Names on Nov. 19.