Box Score
Glendale, AZ - The Academy of Art University's women's tennis team traveled to Arizona to compete in the Paseo Tournament this weekend. The women opened the tournament with a match against University of Hawaii-Hilo on Thursday afternoon. Every one of ART U's players came ready to play and it showed from the get go. The Urban Knights came out attacking and easily defeated the Vulcans with a score of 7-2.
"We are still figuring out our strongest line up,” said Head Coach Dave Allen. “This team is deeper than ever before which is a nice problem to have. Ultimately I would like every player to want the top spot."
Things started hot in singles for the entire ART U team. The women would end up winning five of the six singles matches. Diane Phan was in the number two spot for the Knights and came up with a win over her opponent after retiring her with a 1-0 score in the first set. Laone "Lala" Botshoma kept things rolling when she was victorious over her Vulcan opponent, winning 6-4, 7-5, 10-3. In the number four spot, Amal Ben El Hadj came up with a big win over her competitor with scores of 6-0, 6-0.
ART U let the success from singles play roll over to their doubles competitions. Newcomers Kunkanda "Cartoon" Phukchampa and Ben El Hadj combined for doubles, and played together extremely well. The duo easily defeated their challengers, 8-4. The powerful doubles combo of Botshoma and Phan also came through with a victory. The two defeated their opponents 8-5. The Urban Knights took two out of three doubles matches from the Vulcans, and that was enough to carry them to the win.
“This team is getting stronger and stronger and I like the direction we are headed. There is still a ton we can improve on, but that is what keeps us fresh,” added Coach Allen.
With the win, the Academy of Art University's record improves to 1-1 overall, and the University of Hawaii-Hilo's record falls to 0-2 overall. The women continue their play in the Paseo Tournament with another game tomorrow, February 11th. They are set to take on Chaminade University starting at 3:00 PM.
