Box Score

Glendale, AZ – Playing their third match in three days, ART U Women's Tennis offered up another convincing win with a 9-0 result versus Western New Mexico as part of the Paseo Tournament in Arizona. Similarly to their match against #10 Fresno Pacific to start the year, the Urban Knights were up 3-0 after doubles and carried that momentum into a sweep of the six singles pairings.

"Today was a great team effort," head coach Beth Daub said. "We fought hard and left it all on the court."

Allowing Ganna Tiurina and Claudia Osuna just a single game, Nina Gajdosikova and Daniela Amelunge Antelo rolled to an 8-1 victory at number one doubles. Jenny Johansson and Kinga Kurczbuch picked up their first doubles win with an 8-5 triumph over Marie Monier and Diamond Morrill at number two while the team of Michelle Dandik Zaale and Annika Schneider had the best result of the day, besting Dena Irvin and Marissa Aguirre 8-0.

"Annika Schneider and Michelle Dandik have been very solid in doubles and took control of their match from the start." Coach Daub said.

In singles play, number two through six had little trouble and only dropped a combined seven games in all straight sets victories. Dandik Zaale topped Monier 6-1, 6-1 in the second spot and Schneider finished off Osuna without losing a game 6-0, 6-0 at number three. Amelunge Antelo took care of business at four with a 6-0, 6-1 final over Morrill and Johansson was off to a strong 6-0 start against Irvin before her opponent retired. Kurzbuch won at number six as well, pushing past Aguirre 6-3, 6-1.

Though the match had been decided after two singles victories, Gajdosikova found herself locked in a back-and-forth battle with Tiurina at the top singles position. Gajdosikova, ranked #10 in the West Region, and Tiurina, ranked #9 in the South Central Region, matched up well against one another and, after one set had been taken by each side, Gajdosikova pulled out a big victory in the final set, finishing 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.

"I am very happy with how the girls have responded to every situation so far," Coach Daub said. "We are ready to get back to practice and prepare for our next match."

Academy of Art faces its third Pacific West Conference opponent of the year with a trip across the bay to Dominican on Feb. 21 followed by Sonoma State on the road.