SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis put up a fight in singles but could not top Academy of Art falling 6-1 Saturday afternoon at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.
 
The Urban Knights (2-1) took the early lead as Victoria Leth and Paulina Alvarez won No. 3 doubles 6-1 while Jessica Plazas and Erica Hellbe claimed the top court 6-1 moments later to secure the doubles point.
 
No. 36 Plazas struggled with an injury in singles play in a matchup against No. 26 Audrey Rafols who was awarded the win by retirement to tie the match 1-1. Yun Shiau answered for ART U as she took No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-0 with Victoria Leth putting the Urban Knights a singles victory away from the clinch after she won No. 4 singles 6-3, 6-0 as well.
 
The rest of the singles matches went the full three sets with close games throughout. It was the Penguins who were strongest in the opening sets. Hannah Lam-Truong claimed a 6-3 victory over Alvarez in her opening set, but Alvarez evened things out with a 6-3 set victory in the second. Alvarez then clinched the team victory for ART U with a 6-1 win in the third set. Zoe Coggins held off Helbe in her first set 6-4, but Hellbe won 6-2, 6-2 over the next two sets to claim No. 5 singles. 
 
The tightest match of the day was No. 2 singles where Gina Dudley won 6-2 in the opening set but Julia Ortega evened things up with a 6-3 victory in the second. The third set saw the players trade games to a 6-6 tie and head into one last tiebreaker. Even the tiebreaker was close but  Ortega pulled out the narrow 7-4 victory to finish the match with an Urban Knight victory.
 
Dominican will return to the court Friday to take on Fresno Pacific at 1:30 p.m. PST at Hawk Tennis Complex.