Match #1
ART U Urban Knights (0-0) vs. Sacramento State Hornets (0-0)
Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 10 a.m.
Sacramento, Calif. – Sacramento State Tennis Courts
Live Results

Academy of Art women's tennis returns an experienced roster determined to achieve new success in 2023. In her sixth year building and guiding the program, Head Coach Clarisse Baca has brought together Urban Knights from six different countries to achieve one common goal of making a postseason run.

Remaining in California primarily with a trip to Florida coming in early April, ART U starts on the road at Sacramento State (Feb. 5), at Holy Names (Feb. 17), at Dominican (Feb. 18) before a neutral site matchup with Stanislaus State (Feb. 24) followed by a meeting with Fresno Pacific (Feb. 25) both in Fresno. The Knights' first home match comes on Feb. 28 versus UH Hilo before a road swing in Southern California featuring Cal State LA (Mar. 3) and Point Loma (Mar. 4) then battles with Hawaii Pacific (Mar. 5) and Barry (Mar. 7) both on neutral ground in Los Angeles. Another pair of matchups in Fresno include Colorado Mesa (Mar. 19) and MSU Denver (Mar. 20) then Academy of Art welcomes in Dominican (Mar. 24) and Stanislaus State (Mar. 26). Four matches then take place across five days in Florida with Flagler (Apr. 4), Rollins (Apr. 5), Saint Leo (Apr. 6), and Florida Southern (Apr. 8) all on tap ahead of Senior Day hosting Fresno Pacific on Apr. 15. The postseason then begins as the Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament returns to Surprise, Ariz. on Apr. 19-22. For a more in-depth look at the 2023 schedule, click here!

On a team with seven of eight familiar faces from 2022, juniors Viktoria Leth and Yun "Nicole" Shiau represent two of the four Knights who offered singles records above .500 last season. Leth, who primarily competed in the fifth spot, went 10-5 in her first year with the program while Shiau comes off an All-PacWest Second Team selection in singles following strong results on the first and second courts that helped her achieve a top 45 ranking in NCAA Division II by the end of the season.

ART U's total of five sophomores, Aitana Comas Adam, Maria Vittoria Casucci, Julia Ortega, Paulina Alvarez, and Erica Hellbe, provide vital depth to the lineup in 2023. Ortega, who began with the program in its shortened 2020 campaign, owns the program's sixth-highest singles win percentage at .719 (23-9) after winning 10 of her 14 matches a season ago while Alvarez impressed in her first collegiate season, posting an 11-3 record en route to being named 2022 ITA West Region Rookie of the Year.

New to the squad this season, freshman Jessica Plazas brings a strong background having earned a singles Universal Tennis Rating of 9.51 and doubles UTR of 10.25. Among her career highlights was making her WTA main draw debut at the 2018 Copa Colsanitas in her hometown of Bogotá, Colombia.

Embracing the adventure ahead of them in 2023, Academy of Art tosses its first serves this Sunday.