LIVERMORE, Calif. – In their first match since winning the Pacific West Conference Championship, No. 28 Academy of Art women's tennis has once again taken down a conference rival in their postseason winning streak, as the squad took down No. 46 Concordia and punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament with their win from The Club at Livermore on Friday with a 4-2 final score. 

"Today we found a way to stay positive and believe in ourselves," said Head Coach Nicole Briceño. "Throughout the match, we took everything one point at a time, and with our strategy of playing inch-by-inch to come back, that's what made the difference. At the end of the day we came out with the win while it took everything within us to fight our way there, but what ultimately got us there is that we believed we could do it."

With first serve coming from the doubles courts, No. 22 nationally-ranked doubles duo freshman Amelija Supulniece and junior Erica Hellbe started the day off hot with a 6-0 triumph on Court 1 over No. 8 nationally Sophie Rachor and Tiffany Carrillo to gain an early advantage for the team. With heated and close back-and-forth matches happening on both Court 2 and Court 3, the clinch for ART U would come on the second court as sophomore Jessica Plazas and freshman Estelle Najean defeated Bryn Johnson and Emilie Lugon-Moulin with a 7-6 (7-4) score as the two Knights performed in the clutch and took the tiebreaker. Potentially providing insurance for ART U were senior Viktoria Leth and junior Paulina Alvarez, who were on top in a tiebreaker of their own on Court 2 as the score was set at 6-6 (4-1) before the match was left unfinished. 

To start singles, No. 9 nationally Rachor finished first with a 6-0, 6-2 score to tie up the match overall at 1-1. Leth fought back versus Johnson, winning 6-2, 6-3 on Court 5 to put the Knights back up 2-1, but another victory on Court 3 from Carrillo would tie the match back up, this time at 2-2. Playing nearly identical games not only scorewise, but time as well were Najean and Plazas, who both dropped their first singles set 4-6 before battling back and eventually taking victories away from Concordia, closing both third sets out with a 6-2 takedown. Najean finished first, ending her match up with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 final to give the Knights the lead then Plazas concluded her match just minutes later on Court 2 with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 final to secure the clinch for ART U and officially punch their ticket to Nationals with their 4-2 victory over Concordia.

Within Plazas' singles win, the Bogotá, Colombia native managed to pull off a 2-5 deficit in the second set, as she turned it into a 7-5 set win before taking the third. Alvarez also wouldn't go away easily, as she managed to hold Alicia Da Re off with their unfinished score of 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-1. Da Re had multiple opportunities to take the win on Court 6 with a game point opportunity, but Alvarez held strong and forced the match to its third set. Junior Maria Vittoria Casucci joined in on the momentum switch during her second set as well, with her 6-3 set victory stalling a point for CUI and giving the Knights time to flip the script.

Now winners of eight consecutive matches, the Urban Knights move to 15-5 overall this season while Concordia drops to 16-7.

Academy of Art will now travel to Altamonte Springs, Fla. to compete in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament at Sanlando Park starting on May 20.