GAME #1
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Saint Martin's University (0-0)
September 6, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Seaside, CA -- Otter Sports Center
Live Stats | Live Video
GAME #2
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. San Francisco State University (0-0)
September 6, 2013 at 5:00 PM
Seaside, CA -- Otter Sports Center
Live Stats | Live Video
GAME #3
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (0-0)
September 7, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Seaside, CA -- Otter Sports Center
Live Stats | Live Video
GAME #4
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. TBA
September 6, 2013 at TBA
Seaside, CA -- Otter Sports Center
Live Stats | Live Video
OPENING SERVE
The Academy of Art University volleyball team will at long last begin their 2013 campaign by playing four games in two days at the Otter Classic. The Urban Knights focused on rebuilding this past year in head coach Ed Jackson's first year, and now head into his second year with a renewed sense of competitive fire that should translate into an improved squad this time around.
OTTER CLASSIC CENTRAL
The Knights are among six teams in the Sixth Annual Otter Classic, hosted by Cal State Monterey Bay. This year the teams are split into two pools, with Academy of Art placed in the "Gold Pool" along with California Baptist and Dominican University. The "Blue Pool" consists of host Cal State Monterey Bay, Saint Martin's University, and San Francisco State University. After each team's first three matches of the tournament, the final matches will be determined by the pool standings, with the third place of the Blue Pool taking on the third place of the Gold Pool, the second place teams in each pool facing off, and the first teams in each pool playing for the tournament championship. Full details here.
GOING THE DISTANCE
ART U has three opponents in the opposite pool on the docket, and have mixed success against all three teams. One thing in common is the match length, as the Knights played the full five sets against each of these teams in their all-time matchups, some of which among last year's seven five-set matches. Their first opponent, Saint Martin's, tangled with the Knights once before, with Academy of Art coming out on top in a 3-2 battle back in 2011. The Saints have a new coach after a 6-18 season in 2012, and will be looking to represent the GNAC in this tournament. San Francisco State won the only matchup between the two teams last season in yet another 3-2 matchup and finished 2012 with a 21-9 record. The Otters of CSUMB hold a 2-0 record over the Knights after their 3-2 match victory last season in this same tournament.
DYNAMIC DUO INDICATE MORE TO COME
Both Rachael Smith, the Urban Knights setter, and Lindsay Elgin, one of ART U's middle blockers, were in their first years at ART U last season. Smith was a freshman out of Fresno, while Elgin transferred over as a sophomore from UC Berkeley, but both powered their way through Ed Jackson's inaugural campaign and landed themselves on the short list for postseason All-PacWest honors. With Jackson's second round of recruits coming in, junior transfer Karly DaRosa (Cabrillo College) and a quartet of freshmen in Melissa Brum, Kabrina Speakman, Emily Papale, and Karen Mejias, the Knights will look to repeat that success in 2013.
SETTING IT UP
After the Otter Classic, the Urban Knights will next head down to the South Bay to take part in the Route 92 Showdown, hosted by Cal State East Bay and Notre Dame de Namur. ART U will draw Humboldt State and Alaska-Fairbanks on the first day of the tournament, and then face Cal State Monterey Bay and Saint Martin's for the second time in as many tournaments to close it out.
