Phoenix, AZ- In a battle of top 20 NAIA programs, #18 Arizona Christian came up one win short in their 5-4 loss to #13 San Diego Christian.  Sophomore Tia Okano and Freshman Elizabeth Kelley won both of their matches on the day.

With the teams beginning the afternoon action in doubles, the Firestorm (10-5, 2-2 GSAC) took the early lead over the Hawks (7-2, 5-0 GSAC).  Okano and Freshman Jayci Kelley won the first doubles match completed with an 8-2 victory.  SDCC won the court one match 8-3.  E. Kelley teamed with Junior Mikayla Morgan on court two and prevailed 8-2 to give ACU the 2-1 edge heading into singles play.

San Diego Christian tied the team match at 2-2 with a 6-2 and 6-1 win on court one.

Okano pushed ACU back in front 3-2 as she cruised 6-0 and 6-1 on court two.

The Hawks secured the next two matches on courts three and four to take their first lead of the afternoon.  On court three, Junior Autria Compton and Aleksand Emelianova engaged in the closest of the nine matches played all afternoon.  Compton finished on the short end of a 6-3 score in the first set.  In the second set, Compton won another game but could not manage to the break she needed as she fell 6-4.

On court five, E. Kelley created the fourth tie of the day as she won 6-2 and 6-3.

With the match tied 4-4, attention turned the sixth court as the final match playing on the day.  Try as she might, J. Kelley could not solve Miriam Boeta as both sets were decided 6-3 to give San Diego Christian the team win.

Head Coach Chris Tolson commented, "The women played a good match today.  We were so close to taking out an extremely talented group from SDCC.  We took a step in the right direction today as we are a young team and I believe we will continue to get better and learn.  Our best tennis is still to come for these ladies.  We will find the right combination before the conference tourney."

The Firestorm will have a week off to prepare for hosting Westmont on Saturday at the Phoenix Tennis Center at 12:00 pm.