Match #18
ART U Urban Knights (5-12, 2-7 PacWest) vs. Biola Eagles (9-7, 5-3 PacWest)
Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 7 p.m.
La Mirada, Calif. – Chase Gymnasium
Live Stats | Live Video

Match #19
ART U Urban Knights (5-12, 2-7 PacWest) vs. Concordia Eagles (10-5, 5-3 PacWest)
Friday, October 22, 2021 at 7 p.m.
Irvine, Calif. – CU Arena
Live Stats & Live Video

URBAN KNIGHTS TO MEET BIOLA, CONCORDIA FOR FIRST TIME IN SOCAL
Returning to Southern California as Pacific West Conference play continues on, Academy of Art volleyball will get its first look at Biola and Concordia since 2019 this week.

FIRST SERVE
Challenging two Eagles teams on back-to-back nights, Academy of Art first meets Biola this Thursday, Oct. 21 inside Chase Gymnasium in La Mirada. Concordia is next on Friday, Oct. 22 at CU Arena. Both PacWest matchups are slated to begin at 7 p.m. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

KNIGHT WATCH
Coming into the week, ART U has held onto its top four PacWest rankings in both kills (12.81) and assists (12.08) per set with the freshman outside hitter duo of Ashley Mecham and Katherine Von Kraut coming off 15 and 14 kills respectively in this past weekend's rematch with Fresno Pacific. Mecham added 18 digs in that contest for her ninth double-double of the season and currently ranks ninth in the PacWest with 3.06 kills per set while teammate junior outside hitter Isaura Santos is fifth at 3.31 kills per set. With 14 kills in each of her last two matches, Von Kraut is averaging 2.93 kills per frame. Only 0.20 assists per set behind the PacWest leader, junior setter Picabo Reinhold's 10.60 assists per frame (22nd in NCAA Division II) lead the Urban Knights and represent her highest seasonal average in her three competitive years at Academy of Art. With 10 more versus FPU, she now has 687 career digs (10th in ART U history) to go with 82 service aces (fifth in ART U history) after her career-high five against the Sunbirds and 2,435 career assists (third in program history). Both among the PacWest's top 10, junior middle blocker Jillian Wheaton ranks seventh with a .309 hitting percentage while senior middle blocker/opposite Sadie Emery is 10th at .282. Remaining ninth in the PacWest at 4.32 digs per set is freshman libero Elena Torres while redshirt junior outside hitter Celena Davison comes off a career-high 15 digs in her last outing.

THE BIOLA BIO
After going 2-2 in each of its first two tournaments, Biola won its first three PacWest contests and has gone 2-2 since that time with victories over Hawaii Pacific and No. 24 Chaminade. Thursday's matchup with ART U opens an eight-part homestand for the Eagles who are led by Madison Beebe's 3.27 kills per set (seventh in PacWest) as well as Sami Hover's 5.51 digs per set (fourth in PacWest). The historical matchup between Academy of Art and Biola favors the latter 5-0.

VISITING THE EAGLES' NEST
Following a 5-2 start to the fall season, Concordia topped both Azusa Pacific and Point Loma during a 4-1 beginning to conference play. Five-set losses to Chaminade and UH Hilo were balanced out by the Eagles' sweep of Biola most recently on Oct. 16. CUI will host Fresno Pacific on Oct. 21 prior to its matchup with the Urban Knights. Pacing a Concordia team that is fourth in the PacWest in hitting percentage (.210) are the tandem of Jalyssa Sanchez (.356, second in PacWest) and Hannah Tostado (.337, fifth in PacWest) with the latter adding the seventh-most blocks per set at 0.93. Though CUI leads ART U 6-2 historically, Academy of Art has won its last two meetings in 2019.

FPU CLAIMS PACWEST REMATCH DESPITE HUGE ARE RUN IN 3RD
Four closely-contested sets made up the Oct. 16 Pacific West Conference rematch between Academy of Art volleyball and Fresno Pacific, but despite ART U's 15-2 surge during a breakthrough third frame, the Sunbirds held off a further comeback in their 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20) win. Four Urban Knights finished with eight kills or more and another quartet collected double-digit dig totals apiece in the team's third-highest dig count of the season (74).

LOOKING AHEAD
Two local PacWest opponents will await ART U next week after the Knights return from Southern California. Academy of Art is set to host Dominican on Friday, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. then Holy Names on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.