SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Academy of Art women's tennis was able to get the opening serve of the 2023 campaign underway after initially being rescheduled from Sunday, but despite ART U's eagerness to begin and a hard fought battle until the final point, it was NCAA Division I opponenent Sacramento State that captured the victory by the end of the match with a 7-0 final. 

Performing the strongest for the Urban Knights (0-1) in singles action was junior Yun "Nicole" Shiau though she was the last match to finish, facing off against the Hornets' (1-0) Weronika Ejsmont on court four. While Shiau won the first game it was Ejsmont that jumped out to a 3-1 lead, which powered her to a 6-4 win the opening set. Shiau stormed back in the second set, breaking out of a 1-1 tie by winning five of the next six games to steal the second set, 6-2. Unfortunately, it was all Ejsmont in the tiebreaking third frame as she pulled early for a 10-3 win, ultimately taking the matchup 6-4, 2-6, 1-0(10-3).

Meanwhile from the No. 1 position, sophomore Maria Vittoria Casucci collected a couple of games in her opening set against opponent Mayya Gorbunova, and despite Casucci even winning the opening game of the second set, she was ousted in identical 6-2, 6-2 frames. Other than Shiau's set win, junior Viktoria Leth won the most games of any set on the day, nearly pulling off a comeback in set one, but she was topped by her opponent Julia Moraes on court four, 6-3, 6-2. 

Singles play took place after Scramento State opened the match by quickly capturing the doubles point with a pair of 6-0 victories on courts one and two, with the third matchup remianing unfinished though Sac State also led there, 3-0.

There will be a bit of a layoff for Academy of Art before returning to the court, as the Urban Knights will travel across the Bay Bridge to take on Holy Names beginning at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17.