GAME #17
ART U Urban Knights (5-11, 2-5 PWC) vs. Fresno Pacific University (15-1, 7-0 PWC)
October 13, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Special Events Center -- Fresno, CA
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OPENING SERVE
The Urban Knights are coming off a two-game stretch of very good volleyball, winning against two teams above them in the standings in Chaminade and Dominican and showing their capabilities when all is right. Freshman Taylor Suchy and Brittany Ulmer paced the Knights against the Penguins, after Caitlin Boring led the Knights in attacking with a career night against Chaminade.

PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES
Head coach Ed Jackson has talked about raising up his team's hitting percentage, and over their two wins last week the Knights did just that. Against Chaminade they hit a season-best .326, more than 100 points higher than their previous season high of .224 in a win over Humboldt State. The Knights then backed that up with another solid match with a .219 hitting percentage over the Lady Penguins, which included a third set where they had 17 kills and only four errors, good for a .382 clip for the set. ART U's hitting percentage is climbing, and with better numbers come better results.

SUNBIRDS STREAKING INTO PACWEST
Fresno Pacific has jumped right to the top of the PacWest standings in their first year in the conference, remaining one of the three undefeated teams up to this point in the season. They lost in an exhibition match against Fresno State, but have only seen defeat once this year in regular season play, way back on September 1 in a five-set loss to Seattle Pacific. The Sunbirds are led by Kathleen Anderson, who is fifth in the conference in hitting percentage (.318), and Rupia Inck, who is fifth in the PacWest in kills per game (3.67). Anderson also leads the conference in blocks per game, with 1.47, and 75.0 total blocks.

HEATH ENTERING UNCHARTED WATERS
Senior outside hitter Angela Heath is the longest-tenured Urban Knight, having been with the program since its inception, and Saturday night's matchup marks her 100th match in an ART U uniform. The Urban Knight appears all over the all-time leaderboards, with the second-most kills in program history (747) and second-most total blocks (198). Earlier this year she also passed the 500-digs plateau and currently sits fourth on the career boards in that category. This year, Heath leads the Knights with 157 kills and is second on the team with 188 blocks.

SETTING IT UP
After playing in Fresno, the Urban Knights will play three straight games in the Bay Area that do not take place on their home court. ART U will go to Oakland to face Holy Names on Oct. 17, then travel to San Rafael for their third match against Dominican on Oct. 19, before making their final stop in Belmont to face Notre Dame de Namur for the first time on Oct. 20.