No. 11 Academy of Art versus No. 23 Cal State LA Final Results

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Although No. 11 Academy of Art fell to No. 5 Hawaii Pacific in the PacWest Championship semifinals, the Urban Knights' work was far from over: ART U headed into a battle for third place in the tournament with No. 23 Cal State LA who fell to No. 1 BYU-Hawaii the previous day. Despite the difference in national rankings, defeating the Golden Eagles would not prove to be as easy as one may have anticipated. CSULA challenged the Knights by taking doubles two games to one, but Academy of Art refused to surrender, taking four of the five finished singles matches to come from behind and take the victory by a score of 5-3.
 
With doubles being the Urban Knights' strong suit, ART U felt the momentum at their backs when the No. 5-ranked sophomores Alma Thell-Lenntorp and Klara Thell-Lenntorp took their match by a score of 5-3. At the time, the Knights led in both the second and third positions and it looked as if Academy of Art would head into singles with a 3-0 lead. However, Cal State LA channeled their match from the previous day when they took two doubles points from BYU-Hawaii which had only occurred just one other time this season. As a result, the Golden Eagles rallied from behind to take second doubles by a score of 9-7. In the third spot, sophomores Paula Alcantara and Monika Stanikova fought off match point trailing 7-6 and managed to tie things up at seven games apiece. However, CSULA took the next closely-contested pair of games to win the match 9-7.
 
In order to win the contest, the Urban Knights were forced down a difficult path where they needed to win four of the six contests to come away victorious. ART U did just that however, winning in first, third, fifth, and sixth singles. Freshman Mariacristina Andrisani and sophomore Monika Stanikova were the final two matches being played, but Stanikova was able to take her match first, clinching third place in the tournament, their best finish since placing second in 2015.
 
Academy of Art is currently ranked No. 3 in the West Region and they will await the selection show in which they will discover if their 17-4 season was strong enough to receive a berth into the NCAA Division II tournament.