MATCH #12
#13 ART U (10-1) vs. UH Hilo (1-10)
March 25, 2014 at 2:00 PM
San Francisco, CA -- San Francisco Tennis Club

MATCH #13
#13 ART U (10-1) vs. #22 Cal State Los Angeles (4-6)
March 27, 2014 at 2:00 PM
San Francisco, CA -- San Francisco Tennis Club

MATCH #14
#13 ART U (10-1) vs. Dixie State (9-4)
March 29, 2014 at 11:00 AM
San Francisco, CA -- San Francisco Tennis Club

OPENING SERVE
The Urban Knights won both games to start their long homestand last week before spring break, defeating Division I opponent Weber State University for the second time in two years by a score of 7-2, and then sweeping away Dominican University with a 9-0 win back on March 16. They'll continue the home stretch by hosting some tough in region opponents, highlighted by their first match with UH Hilo since 2012, a matchup with #22 Cal State Los Angeles, and a tilt with Dixie State, who they have not yet played here in 2014.

LOW FIVE FOR VULCANS TENNIS
The UH Hilo women's tennis team is scuffling a bit, having sandwiched a pair of five-game losing streaks around their lone victory this year, which they notched against fellow Hawaii school Chaminade back on March 9. Eight of the losses by the Vulcans this year have been clean sweeps, with four of those coming at the hands of #2 BYU-Hawaii. The Urban Knights and the Vulcans somehow avoided each other last season, as they did not meet in the conference tournament or during the regular season, but ART U has won five of eight meetings against Hilo since 2009 and three of four since 2011.

UNDEFEATED IN THE MIDDLE
The Urban Knights have had many winning streaks highlighted so far, but one that spans a couple different people is the streak that is anchoring the middle of their singles play. Between three different players, ART U is currently undefeated in both their fourth and fifth singles slots, indicative of the Knights' depth and consistency up and down their lineup. In fourth singles, Daniela Amelunge Antelo is 4-0 while freshman Annika Schneider is a stellar 7-0 in that spot. In the fifth spot, Amelunge Antelo is again on the list, taking a 5-0 mark into this week while Jenny Johansson is also 5-0 in that spot.

EAGLES FLY NORTH INTO SAN FRANCISCO
After winning their first four matches of the spring, the #22 CSULA tennis team has dropped six straight since February 24, when they fell to #17 UC San Diego. They also dropped contests to #10 Florida Southern, #9 Rollins University, #6 Lynn University, #4 Hawaii Pacific, and Division I Colorado State in that time span, and have defeated the Urban Knights the only two previous times they played. ART U fell 7-2 back in 2012 and 6-3 last season, but the well-rested Knights will have a lot of momentum heading into the match, and will have to deal with Leora Hemmerich (6-4) and Syndey Postal (7-2) in singles play.

JOHANSSON REACHING NEW CAREER HEIGHTS
Junior Jenny Johansson has vaulted to the top of the ART U leaderboards, recently surpassing Amal Ben El Hadj for the top mark in singles wins, posting a 43-9 record over two years and change. That has translated to another career-high .827 winning percentage in singles, one of only two marks over .800 in program history. In doubles lay, she is near the top and well within reach of the high marks, likely to pass them by the end of the year. Johansson's 35 wins in doubles play are right behind Ben El Hadj and Laone Botshoma, who are tied atop the board with 37 each, while she is right in competition with Amelunge Antelo, who has 36 doubles wins.

DIXIE TURNS LOSING STREAK INTO HOT STRETCH
After losing four in a row at the end of February, including both matches at their own tournament to start March, Dixie State has rattled off five straight, including three sweeps against Our Lady of the Lake University, Southwest Minnesota State, and Arizona Christian. They'll play five matches in four days, including a double day against Holy Names and Notre Dame and a match against Dominican before facing the Urban Knights on Saturday, finally finishing up their trip at Mills College on Sunday. ART U has won the past six matches against Dixie State and nine of ten matches in team history, including three straight 9-0 sweeps of the Red Storm since 2012.

NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS
The homestand will continue against BYU-Hawaii and Sonoma State in April before the Knights travel to Fresno Pacific on April 10 and finish up the regular season at Cal State Stanislaus on April 12. After that is the PacWest Conference Championships, held in Surprise, AZ from April 16-19.