Match #9
ART U Urban Knights (1-7) vs. Dominican Penguins (4-4)
Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 3 p.m.
San Rafael, Calif. – Conlan Recreation Center
Live Stats & Live Video

Match #10
ART U Urban Knights (1-7) vs. Stanislaus State Warriors (3-5)
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 7 p.m.
Turlock, Calif. – Warrior Arena
Live Stats | Live Video

ART U BEGINS PACWEST PLAY AT DOMINICAN, ENDS PRESEASON AT STANISLAUS
With its two non-conference tournaments in the books, Academy of Art University volleyball looks ahead to a four-day span in which the Urban Knights will play their first Pacific West Conference match of the year at Dominican this weekend then conclude the preseason at Stanislaus State early next week.

FIRST SERVE
This Saturday, Sept. 17 features the PacWest opener for ART U inside Dominican's Conlan Recreation Center at 3 p.m. The Knights then head to Turlock to play Stanislaus State inside Warrior Arena at 7 p.m. 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
Now among the PacWest's top 10 in both hitting percentage and blocks per set, junior middle blocker Margaret Winkler has had a breakout season thus far. She comes into the weekend having posted back-to-back career-highs of 10 kills in her last two matches, sporting a .287 hitting percentage (eighth in PacWest), and remains the conference leader with 1.17 blocks per set. Offensively, seniors Melissa Brum and Kabrina Speakman are the team's leaders in kills per set at 2.72 and 2.50 respectively. Sill a split role, freshman setter Lilika Teu and sophomore setter Alana Lucas are averaging 4.84 and 4.33 assists per set. Seventh in the PacWest in digs per set, redshirt sophomore libero Lyndsay Mlynar recently upped her average to 4.84 which would be the highest by any Urban Knight in program history should it remain by the year's end.

THE PENGUIN PUZZLE
In a see-saw season thus far, Dominican was the lone team to sweep four matches in the Route 92 Showdown, defeating Chico State, Barry, Humboldt State, and Cal State East Bay. However, in the same D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase as ART U, the Penguins dropped four matches to CSUEB, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State San Marcos, and Saint Martin's to enter PacWest play at 4-4 overall. Dominican, who is led by Madeline Powelson (3.52 points per set) and Amanda Lee (5.21 digs per set are third in PacWest) will play Holy Names on Sept. 16 before facing the Knights this weekend. Historically, the Knights are 10-7 all-time against the Penguins.

WEEKDAY WARRIORS
After losing to two ranked teams (No. 14 Alaska Anchorage and No. 19 Arkansas-Fort Smith) during a 1-3 Springhill Suites Invite in Alaska to start the year, Stanislaus State split its portion of the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase with wins over Hawaii Pacific and Alaska. The Warriors, who are led by Blair Ehrlich's 4.28 kills per set (third in CCAA), are slated to start their own conference play this week when they host CSUMB (Sept. 16) and CSUEB (Sept. 17) prior to ART U. The Knights lead the Warriors 2-1 in the all-time matchup.

ART U BATTLES QUARTET IN WEST REGION SHOWCASE
Continuing an intensive preseason of matches, Academy of Art faced four more opponents over the course of three days in the D2 West Region Volleyball Showcase. Back in Hayward for the duration, the Knights dropped a five-set match to Saint Martin's on Sept. 8, were swept by Cal State San Marcos before nearly coming back in another five sets against Cal State Monterey Bay on Sept. 9. The final day saw tournament host Cal State East Bay avenge an earlier loss to ART U with a 3-0 win on Sept. 10.

LOOKING AHEAD
At long last, Academy of Art will begin its first homestand (four matches) after Tuesday. First up will be Azusa Pacific on Sept. 23 at 1:30 p.m. while Concordia (Sept. 24), BYU-Hawaii (Sept. 28), and Dominican (Oct. 3) will follow.