Wooten Falls in Round of 64 at 2023 NCAA Singles
5/22/2023 8:27:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Wake Forest’s No. 1 solo player put up an admirable fight throughout Monday evening.
ORLANDO – Patiently waiting to take the court, Casie Wooten stepped in to act as the first Deac competing within the 2023 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships on Monday (May 22). The junior standout fought through nearly three hours of three-set action before ultimately suffering a Round of 64 defeat to No. 23 Carolyn Ansari of Auburn in the singles section.
Wooten's spring campaign officially came to a close, as she was Wake Forest's lone individual to participate in the bracket of solo competition. The Deacs have now had a singles player compete in the event in each of the last three seasons.
Monday included Wooten's first career appearance within the NCAA singles tournament. A year ago, she played a postseason showing in doubles alongside Samantha Martinelli.
Wooten split the opening games in her first set, eventually tying the margin at 3-3. She witnessed another tie through a following pair of games en route to delivering in two more to win 6-4 in her first frame.
After dropping the first three games in the second set, Wooten responded strongly by winning two of her next three. Nonetheless, the junior suffered a 6-2 defeat, as a third period of play was subsequently forced.
Mirroring her opening set, Wooten again split through her first two games. Having fallen short in the third, she captured two in a consecutive fashion to take a slight 3-2 advantage. Wooten then traded a pair of games and won another for a 5-3 edge. However, she next let up two games that resulted in a 5-all mark on the board. Stepping into a tiebreaker, she continued her fight on a few rallies but was unable to complete the victory.
NCAA Championships, Singles – Round of 64
No. 23 Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. No. 57 Casie Wooten (WF) 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (4-7)
Casie Wooten 2023 Spring Highlights
- Wooten embraced a bigger on-court role this year, competing as the Deacs' No. 1 singles player.
- The junior maintained the highest national singles ranking of any Wake Forest individual throughout the entire spring, standing as high as No. 27 in the ITA.
- Wooten reeled in seven wins over nationally-ranked opponents, the most of her college career up to date, and totaled 13 solo victories for the third-best mark on the team.
- She also finished second on the roster in conference solo wins.
- For her efforts in helping her team secure the championship title at the 75th annual Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, Wooten was named Most Valuable Player (Feb. 25).
- On April 2, Wooten notched her 100th combined win through singles and doubles during a home victory over Syracuse.
- The Torrance, California, native opened the spring in a stellar manner, winning six of her first eight matches.
- Wooten collected all 12 of her doubles victories with classmate Mia Ahmad as a partner.
- The two delivered a number of impressive showings, including an exceptional comeback win over Sasha Gorchanyuk/Maria Campos of Louisville (March 24) in which the two secured five consecutive games to clinch.
- Wooten and Ahmad also enjoyed an eight-match win streak from Feb. 5 to March 5.
- The early stages of the postseason saw her knock off No. 55 Page Freeman of Notre Dame in a comfortable, straight-sets performance during Wake Forest's comeback win over the No. 8-seeded Fighting Irish in the ACC Championships' second round.
Up Next
Wake Forest's ranked doubles pair, Anna Brylin/Brooke Killingsworth, will kick start their journey of play on Tuesday (May 23) in Orlando.
Doubles
No. 24 Anna Brylin/Brooke Killingsworth – Round of 32
- vs. No. 15 Raquel Gonzalez/Ayumi Miyamoto (Oklahoma St).
- Tuesday, May 23 at 4:30 p.m. ET
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