Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Building Block
8/4/2022 9:45:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Former All-American Dana Evans found the right fit at Wake Forest during her collegiate tennis days.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – News doesn't travel the same way now as it did 30 years ago.
Instead of watching the NCAA women's tennis tournament pairings revealed via live stream, or seeing the news tweeted, Dana Evans found out the Demon Deacons were heading to postseason play with a phone call.
In a race to grab the ringing telephone, Evans broke one of her toes.
"I ran to answer the phone and broke my toe on the way, hearing that we got into NCAAs," Evans recalls. "So, I had to play with a broken toe."
As part of a doubles team, partnering with Liz Barker for three seasons and Maggie Harris as a senior, Evans appeared in NCAA tournament play for all four seasons at Wake Forest, advancing to the Final Four after three victories as a junior in 1994. She and Barker made history by becoming the first-ever doubles tandem in program history to play in the NCAA tournament.
"One of the reasons I went there was due to how it was kind of a team that was breaking its way into the top 25 and building from there. It was exciting to be part of a team that was slowly getting better, year after year," Evans explained. "Everybody that was on the team, over the years, I'm still in touch with at various times.
"My doubles partner from college is still one of my best friends and we talk all the time. We had a very close-knit group of people."
Growing up in a small town on the Maryland Eastern shore, Evans fell in love with Wake Forest at first sight during her recruiting visit.
"My grandfather was a three-sport All-American at Maryland, so it was a big ACC environment," she said. "I looked at several different schools but loved Wake Forest when I visited. I loved the coach and my parents loved the coach. It being a smaller school and having a family feel stood out the most.
"I considered Arizona, Pepperdine and Clemson. Still, I simply had a good time on the Wake Forest trip. I feel like the team and coach solidified it for me."
Evans' time with the Deacs started off with a bang, earning ITA Region Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman. Individually, she ranked as high as No. 30 in singles play during the 1991 slate.
"Freshman year was my favorite year. It is unique because, you go to college and junior tennis is over, and you don't know anybody that you're playing against," Evans noted. "You don't know if the competitors are supposed to be good or not, so you shake those mental thoughts out of your head and just play. It was great.
"I was having fun playing the sport I love. Coming from such a small town, I actually had not been in a structured environment like Wake before I arrived. So, to be around plenty of good players, along with having the opportunity to practice with them everyday, had a great effect on me. I enjoyed the environment more than anything."
The Deacons advanced to NCAA tournament play during Evans' final two seasons and captured 21 wins as she was a senior. In 1994, Evans was named a Doubles All-American alongside Barker – remaining one of five all-time pairs to notch such recognition. The two finished the season ranked 16th in the nation after peaking at No. 7.
"You know, I was always happy I was there," Evans said. "There were always ups and downs, in terms of performance, both academically and athletically. Obviously, in any part of life, things go up and down. But I always knew that Wake Forest was where I belonged. There was support present in what I needed during the good and bad.
"I was very independent and lived off school grounds, riding my bike to campus each day. I enjoyed the anthropology department and the professors I had. I learned a great deal of information, as they gave me great life advice, which I still quote to this day."
After working for a non-profit junior tennis academy for over a decade, Evans now has her own small business and runs a CPA firm. She also has a four-year old black lab named Deacon.
"The one thing that makes me happy about my time there is that the teams got better and better after I left," Evans pointed out. "I feel happy that I was a building block for improvement in the program and in women's athletics in general at Wake. My senior year, we had a tough conference loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament finals, a lot of which was on my shoulders.
"Learning from that late experience and having to move on is essentially what life teaches you through sports. Like I said, the good, bad, and the ugly. I feel it all makes me a better person."
