With the start of the decade comes a new beginning for No. 19 Academy of Art women's tennis. Helming the program for her third year, head coach Clarisse Baca leads a collection of two determined returners and four talented freshman in 2020.

Coming off one of the most historic seasons in program history, the 2019 Academy of Art women's tennis team went into the season with expectations higher than ever. With three All-Americans, the top seed in the PacWest Championship, and a team rank as high as No. 5 in the nation, the Urban Knights certainly lived up to the expectations. Click here for the 2019 Season in Review!

In 2020, ART U begins with two home contests against Holy Names (Feb. 7) and Fresno Pacific (Feb. 8) before navigating 18 more regular season matches that will take the Knights to Southern California and Florida, featuring six of the top 25 ranked teams in all of NCAA Division II. Click here for more on the 2020 schedule!

One of three Pacific West Conference teams among the top 25 in the nation, Academy of Art comes into this season ranked No. 19 in DII with senior Mariacristina Andrisani inside the top 50 singles rankings. The Urban Knights rose as high as No. 5 overall last year.

Now the lone upperclassman after the departure of a five-member senior class, Andrisani comes off a 2019 campaign in which she earned All-PacWest Third Team in both singles and doubles, winning 11 matches on her own and 13 with sophomore Sofia Ragona. Ragona shared All-PacWest Third Team honors in both singles and doubles, joining Andrisani for what was an eight-match doubles win streak in the middle of 2019.

Making the quartet that is the freshman class are Maria Vittoria Casucci, Aitana Comas Adam, Ella Lynn-Browne, and Julia Ortega. Casucci creates a trio of Italian players on the squad, coming to ART U from Livorno where she previously achieved an Italian ranking of 2.6. Hailing from Cartagena, Spain, Comas Adam brings a robust championship background that includes a National Team Third Division Open title, Regional Team U18 title, and XVII Almeria Open title all in 2018. Lynn Browne is a product of Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Ireland while Ortega carried 45 tournament wins in national Spanish competitions as well as four regional tennis championships and one international tournament title in Finland.

Starting this Friday, ART U looks to continue its tradition of success as the first serve of the program's 12th year is tossed.