SAN FRANCISCO — It's postseason time once again for the No. 11 Academy of Art University women's tennis team, and this time the goals are set even higher.
The postseason begins Thursday and runs through Saturday with the 2015 Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament at the City of Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club in Surprise, Ariz. The PacWest Conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be on the line. Check out the
Tournament Homepage!
Academy of Art (11-4) has never finished lower than fifth place in five trips to the PacWest Championship Tournament. The program earned its best finish last season when it finished third. Top-seeded BYU-Hawaii has won eight consecutive PacWest Conference titles, and the Urban Knights are 0-3 all-time against them at the tournament, but this year they won't have to face them until the championship match – if they earn a spot.
MATCHUPSThe Urban Knights enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed and 24th-ranked Sonoma State in Thursday's first round. BYUH, No. 2 seed Hawaii Pacific, No. 4 seed Azusa Pacific, No. 5 seed Cal State LA, No. 7 seed Point Loma and eighth-seeded Holy Names will all partake in the tournament. ART U is 5-2 this season against this year's PacWest Tournament field.
2015 Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament Field| Seed | Team* | Record |
| 1 | No. 3 BYU-Hawaii | 27-1 |
| 2 | No. 7 Hawaii Pacific | 18-5 |
| 3 | No. 11 Academy of Art | 11-4 |
| 4 | No. 18 Azusa Pacific | 13-9 |
| 5 | No. 22 Cal State LA | 9-8 |
| 6 | No. 24 Sonoma State | 16-7 |
| 7 | No. 25 Point Loma | 9-12 |
| 8 | Holy Names | 16-6 |
*March 25 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings
A SENIOR SENDOFFAcademy of Art's three seniors –
Nina Gajdosikova,
Jenny Johansson and
Kinga Kurczbuch – already had a strong finish to their home careers on Saturday, but they're not ready for their careers to be completely over. A Senior Day victory Saturday stretched ART U's win streak at the time to six, as Gajdosikova, Johansson and Kurczbuch each helped lead the Urban Knights to a 6-3 win over Holy Names at the San Francisco Tennis Club. ART U swept the No. 1 through No. 4 singles, including three wins from Gajdosikova (No. 1), Johansson (No. 3) and Kurczbuch (No. 4), and took the top two spots in doubles for the victory. The Knights snapped Holy Names' (16-5) winning streak at 13 matches.
