FRESNO, Calif. – Academy of Art women's tennis was just one point away from clinching victory in its Friday matchup with Fresno Pacific on the road, but following a pair of intense singles battles that went to a tie-breaking third set after a tiebreaker was also needed to decide the doubles point, it was FPU that escaped as the victor with a 4-3 win.

Action was fast and furious in the beginning of the day during doubles action, with the Sunbirds (7-5) taking the first doubles match to finish on court one by a score of 6-0. The Urban Knights (7-5) nearly returned the favor with the second doubles match to finish, which was on court three where the pair of junior Viktoria Leth and sophomore Paulina Alvarez took out the duo of Sanne Brull and Daimy Puala, 6-1. Moving to court two to decide the match's first point, it was an exciting finish as there was a tie-breaking set to decide the winner, but ultimately it was Fresno Pacific squeezing out the win by the thinnest of margins 7-6 (8-6) over the ART U tandem of junior Yun "Nicole" Shiau and sophomore Julia Ortega. 

Moving into singles action, a retirement by the Knights on court four pushed the FPU lead to 2-0, but the script soon flipped as Academy of Art earned its first point in the match thanks to a retirement win on court two. The first clash to play to its conclusion was Alvarez on court six, where she ousted Paula in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 to knot the match at 2-2. Academy of Art then also claimed victory in the next singles contest thanks to Leth, as she collected an identical set win on court three over her opponent Audrey Ouellet, 6-3, 6-3. 

Just one point away from a match victory with two matches remaining, and while both came down to the wire, neither went in ART U's direction. The penultimate court to finish was No. 5 where sophomore Erica Hellbe was locked in an encounter with Elise Leik, and even though Hellbe battled back from a 3-0 deficit in her second set, it was Leik that captured a win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. All eyes then turned to court one where freshman Jessica Plazas stood toe-to-toe with Lea Falentin, with Plazas needing a bit of extra time to take the opening set before Falentin drew level in the second. Trailing by 4-1 in the third set, Plazas was able to battle her way back and bring the set level at 5-5, but in the end Falentin snatched the win 6-7(7-5), 6-0, 7-5. 

It will be a week before Academy of Art returns to the courts, as the Urban Knights will hit the road to take on Stanislaus State on Friday, April 7 with a match time of noon.