Wake Forest Athletics
Sunday, April 7
Winston-Salem, N.C.
12 P.M.
Wake Forest University
1
vs
6
Miami
No. 31 Demon Deacons Drop Home Finale to No. 19 Miami
4/7/2024 3:58:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Wake Forest will now hit the road for the final two matches of the regular season against Clemson and Georgia Tech.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - On a day honoring the three seniors and one graduate student within the program, the No. 31-ranked Wake Forest women's tennis team dropped a hard-fought battle with No. 19 Miami, 6-1, at Wake Forest Tennis Center Sunday afternoon.
The Hurricanes (9-5, 7-3 ACC) took the doubles point after wins on courts two and three. Senior Brooke Killingsworth and graduate student Marcella Cruz were a game away from defeating the No. 49 pair in the nation, but saw the match go unfinished.
The Demon Deacons (14-11, 5-6 ACC) opened singles play with first-set victories on three of the six courts and saw three reach a third set. Of note, eight of Wake Forest's 12 singles matches this weekend went the distance.
Cruz wrapped up a perfect 2-0 weekend with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Miami's Antonia Balzert in third singles. It marked her ninth singles win in dual play this season and 11th overall as a Demon Deacon.
How It Happened
Singles Results:
From Coach Wyshner
"First and most importantly, it has been such an honor to coach our four seniors that we honored today. They are remarkable people, tennis players and have just been the epitome of student-athlete and Demon Deacon. We played hard today. Miami is very experienced, they played well at some key times and didn't let us pull off the upset even though we threatened. We are playing really good tennis for April and showing that we've gotten better since January and early February where teams at Miami and Florida State's level were beating us significantly easier. I really credit Andy and Anna as coaches working on-court with the players and the players' hard work for making us get better, which is always critical to our program. One more big regular season weekend to go!"
Next Up
Wake Forest will close out the regular season on the road against Clemson and Georgia Tech on Friday (April 12) and Sunday (April 14), respectively. First serve against the Tigers is slated for 5 p.m.
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
The Hurricanes (9-5, 7-3 ACC) took the doubles point after wins on courts two and three. Senior Brooke Killingsworth and graduate student Marcella Cruz were a game away from defeating the No. 49 pair in the nation, but saw the match go unfinished.
The Demon Deacons (14-11, 5-6 ACC) opened singles play with first-set victories on three of the six courts and saw three reach a third set. Of note, eight of Wake Forest's 12 singles matches this weekend went the distance.
Cruz wrapped up a perfect 2-0 weekend with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Miami's Antonia Balzert in third singles. It marked her ninth singles win in dual play this season and 11th overall as a Demon Deacon.
How It Happened
- After wins on courts two and three, Miami took the doubles point and went into singles with a 1-0 advantage.
- Killingsworth and Cruz led 5-4 and were a game away from knocking off No. 49 Nong/Pfennig, but the match went unfinished.
- Early on in singles, Killingsworth and Cruz both held 4-0 advantages in second and third singles, respectively.
- Wake Forest took the first set on three of six singles courts.
- Killingsworth quickly took her first set, 6-1, on court two.
- Gownder and Cruz notched 6-2 first-set victories on courts three and five, respectively.
- Courts two and five were forced into a third set by Miami.
- Shortly after Wooten forced a third set on court one, Cruz evened the match for the Demon Deacons with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in third singles over Antonia Balzert.
- The Hurricanes regained the advantage with simultaneous wins on courts five and six and moved to one win away from clinching the match.
- Miami proceeded to clinch the match with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory in second singles.
- The two teams agreed before the contest to play out the remaining matches.
- Carton and Wooten dropped the final two matches on courts four and one, respectively, as the Hurricanes closed out their 6-1 win.
- Cruz/Killingsworth (WFU vs. No. 49 Nong/Pfennig (UM) 5-4, unfinished
- Schuknecht/Balzert (UM) def. Blanch/Wooten (WFU) 6-2
- Boch-Collins/Noel (UM) def. Gownder/Ahmad (WFU) 6-1
Singles Results:
- No. 14 Alexa Noel (UM) def. No. 25 Casie Wooten (WFU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3
- No. 71 Isabella Pfennig (UM) def. No. 124 Brooke Killingsworth (WFU) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3
- Marcella Cruz (WFU) def. Antonia Balzert (UM) 6-2, 6-3
- No. 104 Aubrey Boch-Collins (UM) def. Nevena Carton (WFU) 6-4, 6-4
- Xinyi Nong (UM) def. Sankavi Gownder (WFU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Maria Paula Vargas (UM) def. Mia Ahmad (WFU) 7-6(5), 6-3
From Coach Wyshner
"First and most importantly, it has been such an honor to coach our four seniors that we honored today. They are remarkable people, tennis players and have just been the epitome of student-athlete and Demon Deacon. We played hard today. Miami is very experienced, they played well at some key times and didn't let us pull off the upset even though we threatened. We are playing really good tennis for April and showing that we've gotten better since January and early February where teams at Miami and Florida State's level were beating us significantly easier. I really credit Andy and Anna as coaches working on-court with the players and the players' hard work for making us get better, which is always critical to our program. One more big regular season weekend to go!"
Next Up
Wake Forest will close out the regular season on the road against Clemson and Georgia Tech on Friday (April 12) and Sunday (April 14), respectively. First serve against the Tigers is slated for 5 p.m.
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Alexa Noel / 0 (14/-) [UM-W]
646
063
#2 Singles Match
123
Isabella Pfennig / 0 (71/-) [UM-W]
166
613
#3 Singles Match
12
Antonia Balzert / 0 [UM-W]
23
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Audrey Boch-Collins / 0 (104/-) [UM-W]
66
44
#5 Singles Match
123
Xinyi Nong / 0 [UM-W]
266
622
#6 Singles Match
12
Maria Paula Vargas / 0 [UM-W]
76
63
Order of Finish:
3,6,5,2,4,1
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
Men's Basketball All-Access vs. Clemson
Friday, February 20
Wake Forest Baseball: Puerto Rico All-Access
Friday, February 20
Steve Forbes - Postgame Presser vs. Clemson
Thursday, February 19
Steve Forbes - Postgame Presser vs. Stanford
Sunday, February 15