Match Results

San Francisco, CA -- The Academy of Art women's tennis team had a tough draw for their first match of the 2012 campaign on Saturday, and future PacWest opponent Fresno Pacific University showed why they are so eager to move up into Division II with a 8-1 victory over the Urban Knights at the San Francisco Tennis Club.

For the Knights, there were still some growing pains, which can be expected due to the short offseason that transpired after the hiring of new head coach Jerry Peach in October. But Peach was encouraged about what he saw from his ART U squad.

“As I told our girls, [Fresno Pacific] is very good and very tough,” Coach Peach said. “But it's a good place for us to start as we played a high-level team and did some things well so that bodes well for us. We obviously have some things we have to work on.”

The Sunbirds, who finished as the NAIA runners-up last year and were #2 in the NAIA rankings, proved why they feel like big fish in a small pond and want to jump up to the PacWest. It started out in doubles play, as FPU's Erika Januskova and Katarena Paliivets defeated Academy of Art's Kunkanda "Cartoon" Phukchampa and Amal Ben El Hadj by a score of 8-3. Januskova finished 12-7 in doubles play last year in two different pairings for Fresno Pacific, and this marked Paliivets first time on the court for the visitors.

FPU followed that with another 8-3 victory, this time with Marie Boura and Yumiko Justin defeating Daniela Amelunge and Kinga Kurczbuch. For the Knights, the two newcomers performed well for their first time in spring competition, as did Jenny Johansson and Paola Correa Fe, who dropped their doubles set to Elizabeth McFeeters and Anna Mikhaylova.

"I'm always evaluating our team play by various viewpoints, the first of which is effort,” Coach Peach said. “We liked the effort and the emotional control today. The focus and concentration that go along with that was just fine. What I think is lacking is the difference in playing singles and doubles, but we make some inroads on that in Phoenix. We will draw a map on how to play doubles and certainly there are others who will make personal improvement in singles play."

The Sunbirds were strong in singles play as well, but the Knights did get their highlight when Maria "Belen" Tenorio took down Nicole Simoni in the final match of the day. Tenorio romped in the first set 6-0, but Simoni responded  with a 5-7 victory in the second. In the tiebreaker, Tenorio prevailed at last after a long battle, winning the set and match 13-11.

“Our match was played with basically half returnees and half young players getting their baptism while outdoor in the sun in San Francisco against a Fresno Pacific team who I predict will win National Championship at the NAIA level,” head coach Jerry Peach said.

For the Knights, they got solid play out of their returners and their new players. Amal Ben El Hadj brought her game to the brink. Losing in three sets to Paliivets on a tie breaker 10-5. Amelunge and Johansson also played well for Academy of Art in the losing effort. But Coach Peach was confident that his team would be prepared for their next matches in the Grand Canyon Tournament.

"When we're in Phoenix, will have a chance to play some pressure situations," said Coach Peach. "We're going to have a lot of matches that will be very challenging.”