NCAA DII Championship Quarterfinals – No. 9 Academy of Art vs No. 1 Barry Final Results
 
SURPRISE, Ariz. – After eight months of competition, the 2017-18 season came down to one final match: the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. The Urban Knights went head-to-head with the nation's No. 1-ranked team: Barry University. Having lost to the Buccaneers 8-1 earlier this season, the Urban Knights knew that a tough challenge lied ahead. However, ART U refused to be intimidated, taking a 2-1 lead after doubles before the Bucs ultimately ran the table in singles, taking the match by the score of 5-2.

 
On March 29, the Urban Knights only mustered one doubles win against Barry (ranked No. 4 at the time) which came in the third position. However, this time, the two other spots in the order stepped up. Up top, junior twins, and No. 9-ranked Alma Thell-Lenntorp and Klara Thell-Lenntorp, came up with perhaps the biggest win of their doubles career: they defeated the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the nation in decisive-fashion. They controlled the match throughout and prevailed 8-3, handing Sonja Larsen and Verena Schmid just their second loss this year and their first upset. 

In second doubles, junior Taisiia Andrieieva and sophomore Mariacristina Andrisani were strong out of the gate and gave ART U their second point of the match with an 8-5 win. The lone win for the Bucs came in the third position: despite holding an early lead, juniors Monika Stanikova and Paula Alcantara were unable to maintain their position, falling by the score of 8-3. This was the first time this season tha the Buccaneers had trailed after doubles. In fact, in their previous 25 matches this year, they recorded 21, 3-0 doubles sweeps and they had never surrendered more than one match in that portion of the contest. 
 
Now, heading into singles with a 2-1 lead, the Urban Knights looked for three spots in the lineup where they could record the necessary victories in order to advance. They found two. At No. 3 singles, Andrisani had a rematch with Hannah Seizer who she fell to in three sets in their previous matchup. This time, the native of Matera Italy went right after her opponent, winning the first set 6-4 and she was well on her way to victory with a 4-1 lead in the second when the match ended. Alcantara also showed a big improvement in a rematch with her opponent in the sixth position, winning the first set 6-2 and nearly taking the second (6-4). The contest was about to move into a third set, but the match was left unfinished. Therefore, despite the final score of 5-2, if it had been played out, ART U may well have pushed Barry to the brink with a 5-4 score.
 
Despite the loss, Academy of Art can hold their heads high after going farther than any other women's tennis team in program-history. Out of hundreds of Division II women's tennis teams in the nation, only eight remained heading into Wednesday, and ART U was one of them.