Match Results

Phoenix, AZ -- On their "lightest" day of the Grand Canyon Tournament, the Academy of Art University women's tennis team continued to clear a path through the competition, improving to 3-0 in the spring season. Friday marked the only day of the three-day competition that the Urban Knights only had one match on the schedule, and ART U posted their second consecutive sweep, defeating Metro State by a score of 9-0.

"We are on court all day here in Phoenix," said head coach Jerry Peach. "The amount of tennis each girl is playing on this trip is more than any of the players has played this year. Our girls have spent more quality time strengthening themselves this year. Our results show this hard work is paying big dividends."

The Knights started out with their doubles play, which had won five of six points coming into the day. Daniela Amelunge Antelo and Nina Gajdosikova played the closest doubles match, narrowly beating back Cara Cromwell and Alicia Holm 9-7. After that, Michelle Dandik Zaale and Lucia Zavarcikova defeated Marianna Evangelista and Sam Schall 8-0 and the team of Kinga Kurczbuch and Jenny Johansson also defeated their opponents 8-0 to win all three doubles matchups.

When it came to singles play, the Urban Knights were just as dominant. Gajdosikova defeated Cromwell without losing a game, winning first singles 6-0, 6-0. Amelunge Antelo (6-0, 6-3) and Amal Ben El Hadj (6-1, 6-0) took second and third, respectively. Johansson defeated Evangelista 6-0, 6-1, before freshman Tamara Kenia beat Nikki Amos in three sets (6-7, 6-3, 10-4) and Sarah Lemp defeated Sam Schall 6-5, 6-1 to complete the sweep.

"Tamara fought back from losing the first set to win the match," said Peach. "Most of the time players who do this go on to lose in two sets, as the mental toughness required to stick it out is missing in most of the people who play tennis. This is a great mark of a fighter. There are many players who cannot say they have lost the first third of a match and fought back to win!"

The Knights have two more matches tomorrow, facing Montana State University - Billings at 8:00 AM Pacific Time and finishing the tournament against Western New Mexico University at 2:00 PM.