PacWest Releases

Phoenix, AZ -- The Urban Knights littered the PacWest Fantastic 15 over the first half of the season, garnering eight selections to the weekly honor over the course of this year. The most recent was announced earlier this week, for games played Oct. 22 to Oct. 28 by the PacWest Office in Phoenix. The list is highlighted by two newcomers, as Lindsay Elgin made the Fantastic 15 for three straight weeks, with setter Rachel Smith making four of her own. Senior Janelle Burnett and freshman Taylor Suchy made the cut one time each.

Suchy started off the year on the list, making it for the first week of the season when the Urban Knights were playing in the Otter Classic. The freshman bookended the tournament with breakout performances, notching 16 kills in her first ever collegiate match against Dominican College (NY) and ending the weekend with 17 kills against Minnesota State-Mankato. Since then she became the first Urban Knight to top the 200-kill mark on the season.

Another new addition, Lindsay Elgin, had the first of her three weeks in a row on the Fantastic 15 after the week of Sep. 24-30, when she only played in one match but had a dominant performance, racking up 20 kills on a .545 hitting percentage against UH Hilo. The sophomore also tallied three blocks in that performance. The next week she was back in there after two matches where she totaled 20 kills and 12 blocks on a .265 hitting percentage against Chaminade and Dominican. Elgin capped off her three-week run with a 13 kill, eight block output against Fresno Pacific, hitting .480 against the Sunbirds.

Janelle Burnett, who has been a senior standout for the Urban Knights at the libero position, made her first Fantastic 15 after totaling 62 digs in three matches against Holy Names, Dominican, and NDNU. Her 30 digs against the Penguins were a career-high, and she also picked up three assists and two kills that week.

Rachael Smith most recently made her fourth Fantastic 15 earlier this week. She received it for her efforts from Sep. 24-30, when she had 51 assists and 13 digs in the victory over UH Hilo, and again the next week after notching 35 assists in the sweep over Chaminade and 52 assists against Dominican, with the Knights winning both of those matches. Most recently she put together another two-week streak, getting the nod after Oct. 15-21, when she averaged 36 assists per match against Holy Names, Dominican, and NDNU, with a high of 41 against the Penguins, and this past week when she topped the 50-assist mark again, notching 51 assists against Hawai'i Pacific, and 22 assists against BYU-Hawai'i.

The PacWest Fantastic 15 is released every week by the PacWest offices in Phoenix.