SURPRISE, Ariz. – No. 6 seed Academy of Art women's tennis is moving on the Pacific West Conference Championship Quarterfinals thanks to a hard-fought victory in a close battle with Bay Area rival No. 11 seed Dominican, as the Urban Knights overcame losing the doubles point to capture four singles victories in the 4-2 defeat of the Penguins on Wednesday. 

Entering the PacWest Championship as the No. 6 seed for the second time in as many years, the Urban Knights (8-6) drew a matchup against a familiar foe in the No. 11 seed Penguins (9-10), whom ART U had defeated twice during the regular season. It was DU who took the early lead by capturing the doubles point, starting on the first court where Audrey Rafols and Gina Dudley claimed a 6-1 win over the Academy of Art duo of sophomores Julia Ortega and Erica Hellbe.

Things leveled out when the Knights responded with a 6-2 win courtesy of sophomore Maria Vittoria Casucci and junior Yun "Nicole" Shiau on the second court over their opponents Carolina Guerrero and Hannah Lam-Truong. That turned all focus to the last remaining doubles match on court three, where the Penguins clinched the 1-0 lead thanks to Zoe Coggins and Haley Garcia producing a 7-6 win over redshirt sophomore Aitana Comas Adam and sophomore Paulina Alvarez. 

Two singles matches were finished in under an hour, but the first went to Dominican to push their lead to 2-0 as Rafols picked up her second win of the day with a 6-0, 6-0 decision in 57 minutes on court one. Yet again the Urban Knights got the point quickly back after Comas Adam finished just two minutes later, needing just 59 minutes to oust her opponent Astrid Craig on court six, 6-0, 6-3. 

The next court to finish was the fifth court, where ART U drew the match level at 2-2 thanks to Alvarez cruising to a straight set victory over Coggins 6-4, 6-1 in just over 90 minutes. ART U's third point came from Hellbe on court three where she needed extra time in her first set but still came away with a 7-6(7-4), 6-1 win over Guerrero. That left the match-clinching point for Shiau on court four, as she dispatched of Garcia with her own straight set win 7-5, 6-4. Though her match remained unfinished, Ortega was on her way to forcing a tie-breaking third set against Dudley with the score sitting at 6-7 (7-2), 4-1. 

As a reward for their opening-round win, the Urban Knights will face off against No. 3 seed Concordia tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in the PacWest Championship Quarterfinals.