San Francisco, CA -- The Academy of Art University women's tennis program ended the 2013 season on a high note and have much to be proud of after yet another record breaking season. The season included a nine-match winning streak and ended with a win over a top-25 program, and was highlighted by a slew of new talent that helped dominate the competition all year long.

The year started at the Grand Canyon Tournament, where the Urban Knights began with a convincing 7-2 win over #28 Tarleton State. When the dust settled in Phoenix, the Knights were 5-0 and only dropped four individual matches against five opponents and headed back to California. After a close 5-4 win over Sonoma State to push their season-starting win streak to six, the Knights fell in their home opener to PacWest foe Fresno Pacific.

But that was the only blemish on the almost flawless first half of the season for ART U. Following that match they dispatched Cal State Stanislaus for the first time in program history by a score of 8-1. They followed that up with another 8-1 win over Dominican before heading to their second tournament, the Dixie State Invitational. Once in Utah, the Knights went right to work, sweeping the first two matches against Colorado Mesa University and host Dixie State by scores of 9-0 before a win in the finale over Division I Weber State to conclude the tournament.

The streak continued on, as Academy of Art started a home stand with a 9-0 thumping of Winona State. That was followed with a resounding doubleheader where they beat Montana State 6-3 and Holy Names 9-0. The next day they pushed the streak to nine straight wins and 15 of the first 16 of the year with another win against Stanislaus on March 23.

All good things come to an end, however, was the Knights ran into their first road block of the season at the beginning of April. Their trip to Southern California started on a rough note, as they lost to Cal State Los Angeles 6-3. The next day they followed it up with another tough loss to Azusa Pacific in which stellar sophomore Jenny Johansson had her personal singles  winning streak snapped at 16 straight victories. Amal Ben El Hadj suffered her first singles loss of the year in the next match against UC San Diego, which ended her streak at 13.

After a loss on getaway day to Point Loma Nazarene University, Academy of Art came back to San Francisco looking for answers. They would end the regular season on a high note, sweeping Dixie State 9-0, staving off an upset bid from Dominican in a 6-3 win, and defeating Sonoma State 5-4. They traveled to Hawaii for a PacWest Tournament preview against BYU-Hawaii, but fell 5-1 before their opening round against the Seasiders the next day.

The tournament opened with the Knights drawing the Seasiders for the second day in a row, as the #7 seed facing the #2. ART U fell to BYU-Hawaii and was pushed into the consolation bracket, but picked up the pace to finish strong. They would sweep both of their consolation matches, taking a 5-0 win from Point Loma before ending the year with a victory over #24 Azusa Pacific to reach the 20-win plateau and secured fifth place in the highly competitive Pacific West Conference.

Ben El Hadj now ranks first all time in career singles wins with 42, and tied for the most career doubles wins with 37. She put together three straight years with double-digit singles win totals, winning 14 her sophomore year and 10 last season before her 18 wins this year

Daniela Amelunge Antelo will return as the lone senior after a fantastic tear, and a strong junior class made up of Jenny Johansson, Kinga Kurczbuch, and Sarah Lemp will look to build upon 2013. Michelle Dandik Zaale, Nina Gajdosikova, Lucia Zavarcikova, Tamara Kenia, and Jasmine Singh make up next year's sophomore class, as the Knights look to have an extremely deep and competitive team that has already spent a lot of time on the court playing together.

Amelunge Antelo and Gajdosikova were the mainstays at first doubles, while Johansson and Zavarcikova spent a majority of the season playing together. Dandik Zaale also played with Zavarcikova, but will have to adjust from playing with Ben El Hadj. With another milestone season under their belt and only one senior (Ben El Hadj) graduating, the Knights are welcoming back a strong contingent for next year.