DALY CITY, Calif. – An extended Senior Day preceded yet another entertaining showdown between Academy of Art women's tennis and No. 66 Fresno Pacific on Saturday, with ART U enacting its revenge against FPU in the rematch between the two sides with a 4-3 victory in the season finale. 

The doubles point would prove crucial after the split in the six singles matches, with the Urban Knights (8-5) jumping out to the lead thanks to a pair of victories after the Sunbirds (13-8) made things interesting. ART U would snag the first win on court three where the tandem of sophomore Viktoria Leth and freshman Maria Vittoria Casucci easily took down the FPU pair of Alice Marques and Elise Leik, 6-1. Though the Sunbirds captured a victory on court two, the Knights earned the 1-0 lead after sophomore duo Sofia Ragona and Yun "Nicole" Shiau scored a victory on court one over Maria Borodii and Lea Falentin, 7-5. 

Much like their first encounter, things would come down to the wire as the two teams went back-and-forth in singles action until the Knights earned the match-clinching point late in the afternoon. The first domino to fall was on court two where the Sunbirds would pull the match even at 1-1 after Falentin picked up a straight-set win over Casucci, 6-2, 6-4. ART U would again take the lead after freshman Paulina Alvarez disposed of Leik, also in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Yet again the match would be tied after Alice Di Matteo of FPU was able to top Shiau on court three, 7-5, 6-2. 

In a deadlock at 2-2, Academy of Art would snag the next two matches to claim victory. The first came on court five where Leth picked up her second win of the day after she bounced Sanne Brull, 7-5, 6-1. On Senior Day, it was only fitting that this year's only active honoree in Ragona would claim the match-clinching point, dueling with No. 47 Borodii in a three-set thriller until Ragona put it away 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3. Though the match had already clinched, Fresno Pacific claimed the final singles pairing of the day on court four.

Prior to the match, ART U honored the careers of not only Ragona, but also Mariacristina Andrisani. The two natives of Italy came together to make a formidable doubles pair in their time at ART U, earning All-PacWest Third Team honors in 2019 after posting a 13-4 record, while each are in the ART U top 20 for doubles wins. Both also tallied successful singles careers, with Ragona posting a career record of 28-16 (.636) while Andrisani was 30-26 (.536). Both were eager to improve on their doubles success during Andrisani's senior season in 2020 prior to the season being halted due to COVID-19. 

It's off to the Pacific West Championship for Academy of Art next, as they travel to Surprise, Ariz. for the first round of the conference tournament beginning on Wednesday, Apr. 20.