Demon Deacons Drop Battle With Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Despite three hard-fought marathon victories in singles play, the Wake Forest women's tennis team suffered a 4-3 defeat to No. 6-ranked Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Saturday afternoon.

After the Cavaliers (17-2, 9-0 ACC) clinched the match with the doubles point and first three singles points, the Demon Deacons (14-9, 5-4 ACC) bounced back with victories on courts one, two and six.

Senior Casie Wooten now has a team-high 14 singles victories to just four losses after her 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5) win over No. 25 Hibah Shaikh. It marked Wooten's seventh ranked victory since the start of the fall and her first in ACC play.

In second singles, senior Brooke Killingsworth extended her winning streak to six-consecutive matches with a 1-6, 7-6(3), 1-0 (10-7) comeback victory over No. 60 Sara Ziodato. It was her second ranked road win of the season, with the other coming against No. 37 Abigail Rencheli at NC State. Additionally, she became the fourth Demon Deacon to reach double-digit singles victories in dual play this season, joining Wooten (14), Gownder (13), and Carton (10).

Sophomore Whitley Pate closed out the match with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Zara Larke. She has continued to shine after stepping into the sixth singles role and is a stellar 9-4 this campaign.

How It Happened

After a 6-2 victory in third doubles, the Cavaliers clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win on court two.
- The two teams decided to play out the remaining court as Killingsworth/Cruz dropped first doubles, 6-4.
Pate got off to a hot start in sixth singles and quickly took the first set, 6-2.
- Virginia won the first sets on courts two-through-five.
In first singles, Wooten became the second Deac to take a set (6-4).
The Cavaliers extended their lead with a 6-2, 6-0 victory in third singles.
Pate was forced into a third set on court six.
Virginia moved to a win away from clinching the match after a 6-0, 6-3 win in fourth singles.
Gownder dropped fifth singles (6-3, 6-4) and the Cavaliers clinched the match.
Killingsworth forced a third set following a 7-6(3) second-set victory in second singles.
Court one also went into a third set after Wooten dropped her second set, 4-6.
- The third sets on courts one and two were both tiebreakers to 10.
Wooten (10-5) and Killingsworth (10-7) both closed out their respective matches with tiebreaker victories.
In sixth singles, Pate won her match 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
The Cavaliers defeated the Demon Deacons, 4-3.

Doubles Results:

No. 14 Collard/Chervinsky (UVA) def. No. 79 Cruz/Killingsworth (WFU) 6-4
No. 27 Subhash/Shaikh (UVA) def. Pate/Wooten (WFU) 6-2
Ziodato/Navarro (UVA) def. Gownder/Ahmad (WFU) 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles Results:

No. 35 Casie Wooten (WFU) def. No. 25 Hibah Shaikh (UVA) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5)
Brooke Killingsworth (WFU) def. No. 60 Sara Ziodato (UVA) 1-6, 7-6(3), 1-0 (10-7)
Natasha Subhash (UVA) def. Marcella Cruz (WFU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 76 Elaine Chervinsky (UVA) def. Nevena Carton (WFU) 6-0, 6-3
Melodie Collard (UVA) def. Sankavi Gownder (WFU)
Whitley Pate (WFU) def. Zara Larke (UVA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

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

From Coach Wyshner
"Pretty close match out there today. There were four points for the getting, but we probably need to get the doubles point to pull off a top-10 road win and they were a little too strong in doubles for us today. Huge credit to Brooke, Casie and Whitley for persevering and getting three-set wins! Now we look forward to our last home weekend of the year with two big matches against Florida State and Miami."

Next Up
Wake Forest will now return home for the final two home matches of the season as it takes on Florida State and Miami on Friday and Sunday, respectively. The match against the Seminoles is slated to begin at 4 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Nevena Carton

Marcella Cruz

Sankavi Gownder

Brooke Killingsworth

Whitley Pate

Casie Wooten

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