Match #11
ART U Urban Knights (1-9, 0-3 PacWest) vs. Biola Eagles (7-3, 3-0 PacWest)
Friday, September 22, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats | Live Video

Match #12
ART U Urban Knights (1-9, 0-3 PacWest) vs. Westmont Warriors (3-6, 0-2 PacWest)
Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 2 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats | Live Video

Match #13
ART U Urban Knights (1-9, 0-3 PacWest) vs. Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (4-6, 1-1 PacWest)
Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.
San Francisco – Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats | Live Video

FIRST HALF OF SIX-PART ACADEMY OF ART HOMESTAND FEATURES PACWEST TRIO
Ready to compete on its home floor for the first time in 2023, Academy of Art volleyball will start with one familiar opponent, Biola, then see two new in Westmont and Fresno Pacific as Pacific West Conference play continues on.

FIRST SERVE
ART U begins its homestand versus Biola this Friday, Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m. then has a quick turnaround to host Westmont on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2 p.m. Next week's lone contest will be against Fresno Pacific on Wednesday, Sept. 27 again with a 6:30 p.m. first serve. All matches are set to take place inside Kezar Pavilion. 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
Remaining sixth in the PacWest in both points (3.93) and kills per set (3.47), graduate student outside hitter/right side Maya McClellan enters this week having posted her sixth and seventh double-digit kill totals to close ART U's recent Southern California trip. Her five double-doubles lead the Urban Knights while supporting the team's third-highest digs per set average (2.78). Not far behind her teammate with four double-doubles, graduate student outside hitter Amalie Rupertova's currently sits second on Academy of Art in both kills (2.61) and digs (2.86) per set. Junior setter Elly McInerney has delivered 20 or more assists in seven straight matches (nine in total this season), giving her the conference's third-highest assist per set average (6.94) as well as three double-doubles. The third Knight to rank among the PacWest's top 10 is freshman libero LC-Reece Nakagawa who finds her 3.10 digs per set at ninth overall.

ANOTHER EAGLES ENCOUNTER
The start of PacWest play has featured three consecutive victories for Biola who now is receiving votes in the latest AVCA National Rankings. The Eagles, who swept both ART U and Dominican before topping Fresno Pacific 3-1, remain inside the conference's top four in every statistical category including second in hitting percentage (.221) plus points (17.06), assists (11.83), and blocks (2.36) per set. Meredith Fisher (3.20) and Dominique Kirton (3.16) are still eighth and ninth in the PacWest in kills per set while Abigail Copeland has taken over the top spot in blocks per set (1.33). Including the Eagles' win earlier this month, they lead the historical matchup with Academy of Art 9-1.

WELCOMING WESTMONT
New to the PacWest Conference this season, Westmont began its season with wins over MSU Mankato and Cal State Monterey Bay in the Otter Classic, but has since gone 1-5 with losses to Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State San Bernardino, Sonoma State then Fresno Pacific and Concordia most recently in PacWest play. The Warriors face Dominican on Sept. 22 ahead of Saturday's matchup with ART U and the team ranks in the middle of most conference statistical categories with the exception of service aces per set where they are second (1.93). Alexis Dennick (.346) and Taylor Distelberg (.335) are third and fourth respectively in the PacWest in hitting percentage while the latter adds the second-highest blocks per set average (1.28). This weekend will see the first meeting to date between Westmont and ART U.

FACING FRESNO
As part of the same Stanislaus State Tournament as Academy of Art, Fresno Pacific essentially mirrored the Urban Knights a bit with losses to Chico State, Western Oregon, and the tournament host Warriors while defeating Western New Mexico. From there came wins over Adams State and Cal Poly Humboldt bookending losses to Colorado Mesa and Dallas Baptist all before a split of Westmont and Biola to start conference action. The Sunbirds have looked to Geneva Elliott for offense (she ranks eighth in the PacWest in hitting percentage at .287) as well as defense (she ranks fifth in the PacWest with 1.11 blocks per set). After sweeping the teams' two matchups in 2022, Fresno Pacific holds a 19-3 advantage historically against ART U.

LATE TIES BROKEN BY PLNU RALLIES TO END ART U SOCAL TRIP
While three different Urban Knights attackers successfully swung over .380 to power Academy of Art volleyball's best hitting percentage of the season, the Sept. 16 Pacific West Conference matchup went Point Loma's way 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-23) inside Golden Gymnasium.

LOOKING AHEAD
After completing the first half of its homestand, ART U will next host the conference's Hawaiian trio of Hawaii Pacific (Oct. 4), Chaminade (Oct. 5), and UH Hilo (Oct. 7).