Match #13
ART U Urban Knights (4-8, 0-4 PWC) vs. Holy Names Hawks (1-10, 0-3 PWC)
Thursday, October 1, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats & Live Video

Match #14
ART U Urban Knights (4-5, 0-1 PWC) vs. NDNU Argonauts (5-8, 1-3 PWC)
Saturday, October 3, 2015 at 3 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats & Live VideoART U READY FOR SOME VOLLEYBALL?
After an entire month of tournaments and road matches, Academy of Art University volleyball makes its home debut this week. ART U will play host to both Holy Names and Notre Dame de Namur as the Urban Knights continue Pacific West Conference play.
 FIRST SERVE
The Knights' first home match of the season will pit them against Holy Names this Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The first 40 Academy of Art students or staff will receive a $10 gift card to Off-The-Grid. On Saturday, ART U hosts the finale of Battle of the Halls as they welcome NDNU for a rematch at 3 p.m. Visit Fan Bus Central to sign up and ride to Kezar Pavilion on Saturday. Live coverage will be available via the links above. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights on Twitter & Instagram and "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
The tandem of freshman outside hitter Stine Raben and junior outside hitter Melissa Brum have accounted for over 6.5 of ART U's points per set and both are among the PacWest's top 20 in kills per set. Brum recently moved into second among the Knights' career leaders with 838 kills behind Dan Yang's 1313. Sophomore middle blocker Margaret Winkler has maintained her place among the PacWest Conference leaders with 1.20 blocks per set after a season-best six total blocks at BYUH. Senior setter Rachael Smith averages 8.67 assists per set while junior Kabrina Speakman has risen to 4.06 digs per set after registering career-highs of 20 digs against UH Hilo and Hawaii Pacific.

HAWK TALK
Holy Names comes into Thursday's matchup at 1-10 on the year with their lone victory 3-0 over Menlo on Sept. 9. The Hawks have otherwise won two sets in their 10 losses, pushing Montana State-Billings to a fifth set as part of the Route 92 Showdown. Most recently, HNU fell to Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific on the islands then to Dixie State on Sept. 26. The top Hawks hitter is Kaylyn Lackey who averages 2.29 kills per set while Lucee Fitzgerald is posting 3.8 digs per set. Academy of Art and Holy Names have met 13 times over the years and the Knights hold a 10-3 edge.

ARGOS AGAIN
After NDNU defeated ART U to start PacWest play on Sept. 19, the Argonauts went on to drop three straight road matches, falling to Dixie State, Azusa Pacific, and Concordia Irvine. NDNU takes a 5-8 overall record (1-3 in conference) into their home contest against Fresno Pacific on Thursday before meeting the Knights for Saturday's rematch. Bianca Alvarez, who put up a match-high 17 kills against Academy of Art last time, averages 4.28 kills per set and ranks third in the PacWest in that category. She has been regularly set by Maggie Billingsley who is one of three conference athletes averaging double-digit assists per set (10.36). Despite the loss to the Argos earlier this season, ART U still holds an 11-5 advantage all-time.

SEASIDERS SWEEP KNIGHTS' HAWAII FINALE
Going up against a new-look BYU-Hawaii team after their 2014 NCAA Championship run, Academy of Art University volleyball could not find its rhythm and wound up dropping the match 3-0 on Sept. 26. Sophomore outside hitter Bailey Soolsma emerged with a strong performance on the offensive end, but the Seasiders used too many weapons to earn the sweep.

LOOKING AHEAD
Another road swing is on the horizon for ART U following this brief homestand. Next Wednesday, Oct. 7 will see the Knights travel across the bay to Dominican before a trip down south to Point Loma (Oct. 14) and Concordia (Oct. 15) the following week.