SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was a warm, sunny day Saturday in the South Bay for the Academy of Art University women's tennis team's first warm-up of the 2015 season, as the No. 14 Urban Knights played tough against Santa Clara University before falling 4-0 in an exhibition match at the Degheri Tennis Center.
 
"It was a great experience for the girls to get out there and compete against an (NCAA) Division I team," said ART U head coach Nicole Briceño-Garzón. "The score wasn't an indicator of what the match was. We all know what we need to work on and keep getting ready for the season."
 
The match began with Academy of Art pushing the Broncos in doubles play. The ART U No. 1 duo of Nina Gajdosikova and Jenny Johansson won the first game over Santa Clara's Nabila Farah and Daniella Silva before later falling 6-1.
 
ART U's No. 3 doubles pair of Michelle Dandik Zaale and Annika Schneider was up on serve 2-1 and 3-2 over Zeina El Tawil and Riley Morgan before dropping a close 4-3 decision.
 
Johansson had the most success in singles, battling Farah at the No. 4 slot to a 5-5 tie in the first set and holding the lead in the deciding game before the match was called. Gabriela Rivas took four games in the first set and was up 3-1 in the second set of her No. 6 matchup versus Danielle Zinn before the match was called.
 
"This is a good match for them, an eye-opener," said Briceño-Garzón, "because they know they can do it and compete against these teams."
 
Academy of Art opens its 2015 regular season at Dominican University of California on Feb. 14.