MATCH #4
No. 12 Academy of Art (3-0) at UC Santa Cruz (1-4)
Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 – 2 p.m. PST
Santa Cruz, Calif. – East Courts
 
MATCH #5
No. 12 Academy of Art (3-0) vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (3-0)
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 – Noon PST
Santa Cruz, Calif. – East Courts
 
SAN FRANCISCO — The No. 12-ranked Academy of Art University women's tennis team heads down the coast this week to face two NCAA Division III opponents at UC Santa Cruz, playing the Banana Slugs Friday before facing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Saturday.
 
The Urban Knights moved up two spots to No. 12 in the country in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released Wednesday. They also moved up to No. 3 in the ITA's most recent West Region rankings on Feb. 18. ART U picked up two wins last week over nationally ranked teams, beating then-No. 23 Sonoma State 6-3 and then-No. 27 Cal State Stanislaus.
 
ABOUT UC SANTA CRUZ
The Banana Slugs (1-4) are 0-3 this season against NCAA Division II competition, including 0-2 versus teams from the Pacific West Conference. Most recently they fell at Sonoma State 9-0 on Saturday. UCSC does have two other victories this spring, but they were in exhibitions against junior colleges. The Slugs' lone victory came in a 9-0 sweep at home versus Mills College on Friday.
 
ABOUT CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS
The Athenas (3-0) are ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division III and are the No. 1 D-III team in the West Region. CMS has two wins versus Division II opponents, beating PacWest members Cal State LA 8-1 on Feb. 6 and Point Loma 7-2 on Saturday. This weekend's match will be their first match away from home.
 
JOHANSSON NAMED PACWEST POTW
After only dropping two sets in 42 total played against two nationally ranked teams, senior Jenny Johansson was named the PacWest Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week Wednesday for the week of Feb. 16-22. Johansson won both of her singles and doubles matches on the week. She beat No. 23 Sonoma State's Hillary Fazekas and No. 27 Cal State Stanislaus' Ebone Qualls both in straight-sets, 6-0, 6-0. She also teamed with Lucia Zavarcikova to win two No. 2 doubles matches 8-0 and 8-2.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Urban Knights will take a week off before hosting PacWest opponent No. 22 Point Loma on March 9. Then nine days later the team will travel to Hawaii for three matches beginning March 18.