IRVINE, Calif. – Academy of Art women's tennis, recently elevated to No. 5 in NCAA Division II, triumphed over Concordia 7-0 at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center on Saturday morning. After capturing the doubles point with wins in the first and third positions, all six singles were won in straight sets.
"After our match versus Sonoma State, we worked hard to make some tweaks to our game in order to be more aggressive and play tougher balls," said head coach
Clarisse Baca. "I was happy to see that every player applied what we worked on."
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Alma Thell-Lenntorp and
Klara Thell-Lenntorp were strong in the top doubles position, defeating Lisa Suzuki and Taylor Lau 6-1. Number two doubles pair
Paula Alcantara and
Monika Stanikova then fell to Ghazal Pakbaten and Johanna Keeline 6-1, but the decisive victory came from Maria Andrisani and
Sofia Ragona at number three. Down 4-2, the pair rallied against Samantha Schuster and Halle Van Natta to come away 7-5 winners and secure the doubles point for ART U.
The momentum from those victories carried into singles as Stanikova did not surrender a set to the third-ranked player in the West Region in Pakbaten 6-4, 6-3. At number two,
Klara Thell-Lenntorp took home a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Lau while her sister, Alma, made quick work of Suzuki 6-0, 6-2 in the third position. Ragona worked through a closely-played first set versus Keeline to take the fourth spot 7-5, 7-0 from Keeline and
Taisiia Andrieieva put away Schuster 6-2, 6-2 at five. Alcantara completed the singles sweep with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Van Natta in the sixth position.
After the victory over Sonoma State last week, the Urban Knights start the year 2-0 while Concordia drops to 2-2.
The weekend's Southern California roadtrip concludes tomorrow at Cal State Los Angeles starting at 11 a.m.
