Box Score

Waipahu, HI --- The Academy of Art University women's tennis team (5-11) battled through an incredible four tiebreakers in an 8-1 loss at the hands of No.43 Chaminade University (8-7) in the Aqua Tournament on Thursday night. With AAU being as close as one point in some cases, the final score did not reflect the fight and heart shown by the Urban Knights at Central Oahu Regional Park in this neutral site contest. Freshman Diane Phan and junior Laone "Lala" Botshoma combined for Academy of Art's 9-7 doubles victory in the number one position.

Laone "Lala" Botshoma, Paola Correa Fe, and Maria "Belen" Tenorio each played their hearts out in singles. Although each Urban Knight player played well in the game, these three lost heartbreakers at the end of their match. Lala came up just short of her opponent and lost with scores of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) to Tiffany Divincent of Chaminade. Paola was defeated by Natalie Phanphengdy after a well fought match by 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (10-5). Maria gave all she had but couldn't quite finish out her match and ended up falling short to Stacey Chaussoy with final scores of 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (11-9).

“Paola and Belen absolutely rocked it today,” Head Coach Dave Allen said. “They just kept fighting and fighting. These were some very hard-fought matches and the girls left it all on the court so what more could I ask of them? We battled for six hours today. And although we went down 8-1, all of these matches are so tight and we were in every match.”

Having yet another solid doubles game was the team of Diane Phan and Laone "Lala" Botshoma. They recorded the only win for the Urban Knights in the match and defeated their doubles opponent 9-7.

“Chaminade has had a really good year,” Coach Allen said. “It's just a matter of time for us. We're still learning and we are headed in the right direction. We definitely learned a lot on this trip. This was a very important trip for us to have taken because we've learned so much about our team.”

The Urban Knights will wrap up their play at the Aqua Tournament on Friday, March 26th. They are set to take on No. 12 in the Nation, Hawaii Pacific at 9:00 AM (HST). The game will be held at Central Oahu Regional Park.