Match #20
ART U Urban Knights (5-14, 2-9 PacWest) vs. Dominican Penguins (1-18, 1-9 PacWest)
Friday, October 29, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
Belmont, Calif. – Walter Gleason Gym
Live Stats & Live Video
Match #21
ART U Urban Knights (5-14, 2-9 PacWest) vs. Holy Names Hawks (6-15, 3-10Â PacWest)
Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 2 p.m.
Belmont, Calif. – Walter Gleason Gym
Live Stats & Live Video
PACWEST VOLLEYBALL PITS ART U AGAINST NORCAL RIVALS
Approaching the final month of its 2021 fall season, Academy of Art volleyball will get its first look at a pair of local Pacific West Conference opponents in Dominican and Holy Names this week.
FIRST SERVE
Playing at home for the first time since Oct. 8, ART U hosts Dominican this Friday, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. Less than 24 hours later, Academy of Art takes on Holy Names at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30 back inside Walter Gleason Gym. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (
Apple App Store,Â
Google Play Store) and onÂ
Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" theÂ
Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.
KNIGHT WATCH
Among its PacWest opponents, ART U sits third in assists (11.91) and fifth in kills (12.67) per set. Supporting those numbers have been the collection of junior setter
Picabo Reinhold along with outside hitters junior
Isaura Santos and freshman
Ashley Mecham. Reinhold currently averages the second-highest number of assists per set in the conference at 10.46 (25th in NCAA DII). Just one dig away from 700 in her career, Reinhold ranks 10th in ART U history in that category as well as third with 2,489 career assists and fifth with 82 career service aces.
Currently tied with HNU's Lauren Sera for the sixth-most kills per set in the PacWest, Santos checks in at a team-high 3.26 per frame while Mecham is not far behind at 3.03 (ninth in PacWest). Mecham logged 10 kills and 15 digs in her most recent match for her 10th double-double of the season.
Hitting .319 on the year, junior middle blocker
Jillian Wheaton remains seventh in the conference. Coming off her 16th time reaching double digits in digs this fall, freshman libero
Elena Torres finds herself ninth in the PacWest at 4.25 digs per set.
OPENING UP THE DOMINI-CAN
After falling in its first 13 matches of the season, Dominican collected a 3-1 win over Hawaii Pacific on Oct. 1, but has since dropped its next five matches for a 1-18 overall record. Though no Penguin is averaging more than 1.80 kills per set, there are six who average more than 1.00 led by Mariah Ahid's 1.76 per frame while Samantha Brown's 3.94 digs per set pace the team as well. Relatively even in 28 previous encounters, the historical matchup of these two teams has Dominican slightly up 16-12.
THE HAWK TALK
Just one conference win ahead of Academy of Art in the PacWest standings, Holy Names is 3-10 thus far with a 6-15 overall record. A 3-9 start to the year improved a bit after the Hawks defeated Hawaii Pacific and Dominican for their first conference victories, but HNU is 1-5 most recently with a lone win over Fresno Pacific earlier this week. Second in the PacWest in digs per set (18.11), Holy Names is just back of ART U in kills per set (12.55) with Lauren Sera's 3.26 kills per frame ranking sixth in the conference. The team's leading blocker is Saupuni Mavaega (1.03 per set, fourth in PacWest) and their best in terms of digs per set is Cassidy Simon (4.63, seventh in PacWest). The storied rivalry between Academy of Art and Holy Names has seen 25 meetings with the Urban Knights ahead 18-7 historically.
SOCAL SWING ENDS WITH CONCORDIA BESTING KNIGHTS IN IRVINE
Wrapping up its penultimate trip out of the Bay Area inside CU Arena on
Oct. 22, Academy of Art volleyball saw the second set within reach, but Concordia triumphed 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-15).
LOOKING AHEAD
The month of November brings ART U's Hawaii roadtrip which will include rematches against UH Hilo (Nov. 4), Chaminade (Nov. 6), and Hawaii Pacific (Nov. 7).
