SAN FRANCISCO – As a team with three new faces to Academy of Art women's tennis this year, the squad persistently competed together throughout its 2023-24 campaign. The Urban Knights began the season winning their first five matches against NCAA Division II schools, tied the program record dating back to 2013 for most consecutive wins with nine, ultimately triumphed in four straight matches to win a Pacific West Conference Championship for the first time in program history in ART U Head Coach Nicole Briceño's first year back at the helm, and continued their postseason run through an NCAA DII West Regional and NCAA DII National Championship Tournament victory.

"The season was just a lot of fun," Briceño said. "The team started to not only believe in themselves individually but also the bond between them grew as the season progressed. We improved so much from the fall and our work ethic and commitment to each other became stronger with each practice and competition. It was so awesome to see each player come out of their shell and just take their game to the next level. We became more aggressive and more confident and just overall had a stronger competitive mentality."

After competing against an NCAA DI foe in Portland State on Feb. 1, the Knights went on a tear sweeping their next three matches, including a road contest against Menlo on Feb. 10, then back at home for Stanislaus State on Feb. 16 and Fresno Pacific on Feb. 24. Sticking in the Bay Area for two more matches, ART U would take both, these times with 4-3 scores in the Knights' favor against UH Hilo on Feb. 26 and Concordia on Feb. 29.

The Knights would then take a trip to compete against a duo of PacWest schools in Azusa, Calif. against both Hawaii Pacific on Mar. 10 and their first match against a ranked opponent of the season in No. 35 Azusa Pacific on Mar. 11. ART U would return home for one match afterwards, as they took down Westmont on Mar. 16 in a 7-0 sweep on Youth Tennis Advantage Day. 

Now in the valley for another pair of matches, the Knights claimed an additional victory on the road, this time against Cal State LA on Mar. 22 with a 6-1 score with freshman Georgiana Parr winning her fifth-straight singles competition before having their 3-1 lead the day after on Mar. 23 over #17 Point Loma be rained out, resulting as unfinished.

With a 7-3 record to this point of the season, Academy of Art next squared up against their toughest competition of the campaign to date, as ART U traveled to Florida to face a trio of nationally-ranked opponents. Starting the trip off against No. 14 Tampa on Mar. 26 with No. 12 Embry-Riddle following thereafter on Mar. 28, the squad would not even get a day's rest before earning a win over No. 39 Rollins on Mar. 29, resulting in a competitive 4-3 final.

Dominican would be the next opponent on the radar not once, but twice on both Apr. 7 and Apr. 12 with the first containing the Senior Day celebration prior to first serve, as the program recognized the multi-year efforts of both senior Erica Hellbe and senior Viktoria Leth. The Knights' back-to-back wins against the Penguins closed out the regular season, but there was plenty more tennis to play.

The PacWest Conference Championship Tournament came next for ART U (entering as the #5 seed), as they got set to compete against #12 seed Colorado Mesa in the first round on Apr. 17. A 4-0 triumph would be the result with help from a clinch by junior Paulina Alvarez before the Knights took down No. 36 Hawaii Pacific (the #4 seed) in the next round on Apr. 18, this time with a 4-2 score to boost themselves into the Semifinals. No. 30 Point Loma, who held the #1 seed, would be the challenger to get through to reach the final match, and ART U would do just that as they steadily defeated the Sea Lions 4-1 on Apr. 19. In the title-deciding match, the Knights would continue their tear through the PacWest opponents and take down No. 19 Azusa Pacific (the #2 seed) on Apr. 20 to be crowned as PacWest Champions for the first time in program history after a clean 4-0 sweep over the Cougars. While also claiming the Championship title, Leth was named the 2024 PacWest Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player with her seven total victories.

With now a conference title under their belts thus far, ART U was named the top seed in the West Region and were paired with No. 46 Concordia (the #4 seed) in the NCAA DII West Regional on May 10. In a match that saw the two sides not letting anything go easy with intense battles happening from all courts, including an impressive 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win from freshman Estelle Najean, the Knights would once again come out with the win 4-2 as they officially punched their ticket to the NCAA DII National Championship Tournament in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

"Interestingly, at the conference tournament our mentality was that we were there to not settle, and to not just be satisfied with where we were at," Briceño said. "I kept saying to them, 'We didn't come this far to come this far' and I think everyone was just hungry to compete and leave it all on the court whether we won or lost. After winning the conference title, everyone was so happy and moving on to Regionals; we just wanted more. We were all very anxious to compete and with every practice we talked about the importance of our mental state and what mindset we needed to have for Regionals to come on top. The vibe was very focused, probably the most focused we had been all season."

Taking a break from the action on May 16, the squad was able to reflect on what they had accomplished to that point of their season at the 11th Annual ARTYs award ceremony. Freshman Amelija Supulniece opened up the night with a Freshman of the Year honor, as sophomore Jessica Plazas came next as she was named the team's Most Valuable Player. Plazas returned to the stage shortly after as she was announced the winner of the highest individual honor at the ceremony, the 2024 Richard & Clara Gil Stephens Urban Knight of the Year award. To close out the night, women's tennis was named the 2024 Team of the Year.

Now at the national stage, ART U was placed as the #11 seed out of 16 teams, and next had No. 29 UIndy (the #6 seed) on their schedule on May 20. In the first upset of the tournament, the Knights triumphed over the Greyhounds 4-1 in a Sweet Sixteen that involved an intense 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 triumph and clinch for Maria Vittoria Casucci to propel the team to the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history, with the first dating back to 2018. No. 3 North Georgia (the #3 seed) is who the Knights would face in the match on May 21, and the 2023-24 would officially come to an end as the Nighthawks would take this one. 

"Obviously, we were a bit disappointed to come out just short at the national tournament," Briceño said. "The score does not reflect how close the match was against the No. 3 team in the nation, but I would say everyone was really proud of each other and are now hungrier to come back next season even stronger."

Throughout the duration of the postseason run, individual members of the Knights received awards for their season-long efforts. Adding to previously mentioned Leth's Most Outstanding Player award, Supulniece would earn conference awards of her own as she was named the PacWest Freshman of the Year, while simultaneously being named to the All-PacWest First Team in singles, and earning All-PacWest Second Team honors in doubles alongside her doubles partner Hellbe. Plazas joined them as she was awarded All-PacWest Second Team in doubles. 

Leth and Plazas were shortly after both named to the CSC Academic All-District team, while Plazas was then announced as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association West Region Player to Watch following her team-high 16 singles matches won (eighth-most in program history). Most recently, Supulniece ended her rookie year as an ITA All-American after achieving a No. 14 singles ranking by the season's end.

With a lot to be proud of this year, the squad is already gearing towards the 2024-25 campaign. With the loss of their tournament Most Outstanding Player and half of their No. 19 nationally ranked doubles team, the squad now gets set to prepare for next year. 

"Losing our seniors in Vik and Erica is going to be tough," Briceño said. "They were great competitors and players for our team and great leaders. However, our incoming recruits are going to fit really well with the culture of our team and my expectations for them and this team are very high. Everyone is eager to work hard over the summer and just be even more prepared for the season, and it's going to play a huge factor in how our season goes. I am really excited to see how everything plays out, and I'm most excited to just see the progress in each player on the team. I am big on progress so I measure our success on how much we are improving on a day to day, not only on the court, but also as a team and off the court. I can't wait to see even more competitiveness and hunger from this team. I know they want to come back next year for more and are excited to be a part of that."