Wake Forest Defeats Virginia Tech, 4-3

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Wake Forest women's tennis team earned its fifth ACC win of the season as it took down Virginia Tech, 4-3, in Blacksburg, Va. Thursday afternoon.

The Demon Deacons (14-8, 5-3 ACC) took the doubles point for the 12th time this season, highlighted by a 6-2 victory from senior Brooke Killingsworth and graduate student Marcella Cruz over Virginia Tech's (8-8, 3-5 ACC) Andreini/Radulova. The duo, now ranked No. 79 in the nation, improved to 11-4 this season and 4-1 against ACC opponents.

Senior Casie Wooten and sophomore Whitley Pate clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win on court two over Aksu/Cheng. They now have four wins to just one loss as a partnership this season.

Wooten and freshman Sankavi Gownder remain tied for the team lead with 13 singles victories in dual play this campaign, as they picked up wins on courts one (6-2, 6-4) and five (6-1, 6-1), respectively.

Killingsworth clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory in second singles over Ozlem Uslu. The senior has now won six-consecutive matches, the longest streak on the team.

The Demon Deacons have at least a .500 winning percentage in all six singles positions this season and are above .600 in four of the six. Additionally, the Deacs are an impressive 9-3 (.750) in positions one and two against ACC opponents.

Pos.	Record (ACC)	Win Percentage (ACC)
1	13-4 (4-2)	.765 (.667)
2	12-6 (5-1)	.667 (.833)
3	10-10 (2-6)	.500 (.250)
4	11-7 (4-3)	.611 (.571)
5	12-6 (5-3)	.667 (.625)
6	10-7 (4-4)	.588 (.500)
Totals	68-39 (24-18)	.636 (.571)

Wake Forest has now won eight-consecutive meetings against Virginia Tech and is 33-6 all-time against the Hokies.

How It Happened

All three doubles courts remained on serve over the first few games, until the Demon Deacons broke on courts one and two.
Killingsworth/Cruz earned a 6-2 victory in first doubles over Andreini/Radulova followed by a 6-4 win in second doubles from Pate/Wooten to clinch the doubles point.
- The Demon Deacons went into singles with a 1-0 advantage.
Wake Forest carried over the momentum and took control of singles early, as Wooten, Killingsworth and Gownder cruised to first set victories.
- The Hokies took the first set on courts three, four and six.
In fifth singles, Gownder extended the lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Erika Cheng.
Wooten took court one 6-2, 6-4 before Killingsworth clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in second singles.
- The two teams agreed to play out the remainder of the match.
Cruz retired on court three as Virginia Tech earned its first point of the afternoon.
Pate and Carton both forced third sets, but dropped the tiebreakers.
The Demon Deacons defeated the Hokies, 4-3

Doubles Results:

No. 79 Cruz/Killingsworth (WFU) def. Andreini/Radulova (VT) 6-2
Pate/Wooten (WFU) def. Aksu/Cheng (VT) 6-4
Gownder/Ahmad (WFU) vs. Cartledge/Uslu (VT) 4-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2

Singles Results:

No. 35 Casie Wooten (WFU) def. Ozlem Uslu (VT) 6-2, 6-4
Brooke Killingsworth (WFU) def. Katie Andreini (VT) 6-4, 6-3
Semra Aksu (VT) def. Marcella Cruz (WFU) 6-4, 4-5, WFU retired
Tamara Barad Itzhaki (VT) def. Nevena Carton (WFU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Sankavi Gownder (WFU) def. Erika Cheng (VT) 6-1, 6-1
Laima Frosch (VT) def. Whitley Pate (WFU) 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4)

Order of finish: 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 4

From Coach Wyshner
"Really strong effort today in terribly windy conditions! We played an excellent doubles point on all three courts. Virginia Tech really pushed us in singles, but on the three courts where we lost the first set, we were leading in the second sets when we clinched. That's a real team effort that way, close out straight sets where you win the first and force thirds where you don't. Road ACC matches are tough and we just won our third already this year!"

Next Up
Wake Forest will remain in the state of Virginia for another ACC battle with the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. and can be streamed here.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Nevena Carton

Marcella Cruz

Sankavi Gownder

Brooke Killingsworth

Whitley Pate

Casie Wooten

Wake Forest Athletics