Wake Forest University
NC State
NC State Edges Wake 4-3 in ACC Tourney Opener
4/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2008
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla - After dropping the doubles point, the Wake Forest women's tennis team rallied to tie NC State 3-3 in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, but Wolfpack junior Neils Barringer overcame a 3-0 third set deficit at No. 6 to clinch the NCSU victory.
With the loss, the Demon Deacons are 8-13 for 2008, while NC State will face No. 1 seed Georgia Tech in the second round of the league tourney with a 12-9 record.
In the doubles portion of the match, the eighth-seeded Pack jumped out to an early lead with an 8-3 victory at No. 2. Sasha Kulikova and Sierra Poske quickly evened the score with an 8-4 win at No.1, leaving Wake's Aileen Davis and Katarina Reveche to battle NC State's Neils Barringer and Julia Roach for the doubles point.
The Demon Deacon duo held an early lead until the Pack broke serve to the tie pro set score at 4-4 and followed with three consecutive game wins to post a 7-4 lead. Sophomore Aileen Davis, who struggled with her serve earlier in the match, kept Wake Forest alive when serving in the twelfth game to cut the Deacon deficit to 7-5.
Wake Forest was unable to break NC State in the next game and fell 8-5 to surrender the opening point.
Freshman Emilee Malvehy quickly evened the match score with an 6-2, 6-1 win over Julia Roach at No. 4 singles.
Reveche and Davis, playing side-by-side with Malvehy on the lower courts, each notched first set tiebreaker wins. Reveche charged ahead 5-0 in the second set before dropping a game to Catherine Grotz. She then finished with a 6-1 win to give Wake Forest a 2-1 advantage.
On the upper courts, All-ACC competitor Sasha Kulikova split sets with NC State's Daria Petrovic at the top of lineup, opening with a 6-3 loss but following with a 7-6 victory in the second set that ended with a 7-4 tiebreaker. Kulikova then swept all six games of the final set to put Wake Forest up 3-1.
Christian Tara and Sierra Poske fell at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. In her first outing since suffering a minor injury in the North Carolina match on April 5, Poske took NC State's Lenka Hojckovato two close sets (7-5, 7-6 (4)), but Hojckovato had the final edge to knot the match score at 3-3.
The deciding contest then fell at No. 6, where sophomore Aileen Davis, a WFU field hockey All-American who started with the Demon Deacon tennis squad in December, was in the middle of a three-set match with NC State's Neils Barringer.
Davis took an early lead when she topped Barringer 7-2 in a first set tiebreaker. Barringer then fired back through the second set to take a 6-1 win, but Davis took a quick 3-0 advantage to start the final set.
Barringer posted three consecutive game wins to tie the set, and continued to move ahead for a 5-3 lead. In the final game, Barringer went up 0-40 but Davis fought back and cut the lead to 30-40. With a deep shot just inside the lane, Barringer took the set win to send the Pack into the second round.
The 38th-ranked Demon Deacons will now await the NCAA Tournament draws, scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 30.
No. 8 NC State 4, No. 9 Wake Forest 3
Singles
1. Daria Petrovic 1. Sasha Kulikova WF 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0
2. Berkley Brock 2. Christian Tara ST 6-3, 7-5
3. Lenka Hojckova 3. Sierra Poske ST 7-5, 7-6 (4)
4. Julia Roach 4. Emilee Malvehy WF 6-2, 6-1
5. Catherine Grotz 5. Katarina Reveche WF 7-6 (3), 6-1
6. Neils Barringer 6. Aileen Davis ST 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6*
Doubles
1. Grotz / Hojckova 1. Kulikova / Poske WF 8-4
2. Petrovic / Brock 2. Tara / Malvehy ST 8-3
3. Roach / Barringer 3. Reveche / Davis ST 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3*
- .WakeForestSports.com -
Players Mentioned
