
Deacs Fall to Fighting Irish in 2025 ACC Women’s Tennis Championships
4/17/2025 4:46:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Whitley Pate and Krystal Blanch earned solo wins in Thursday’s third round.
CARY, N.C. – The No. 14-seeded Wake Forest women's tennis team (15-13, 3-9 ACC) returned to the courts on Thursday for the third round of the 2025 ACC Championships, facing No. 6-seed Notre Dame. The afternoon turned into a showdown between the two sides before the Fighting Irish took a 4-2 win.
The Demon Deacons matched up with Notre Dame in the postseason for the first time since April 20, 2023 in the second round of the ACC tournament.
The contest involved Makayla Mills/Krystal Blanch winning their third consecutive doubles match playing together. Defeating No. 71 Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno, Thursday also marked the pair's third ranked win of the spring.
Junior Whitley Pate moved to 11-7 overall in singles this season, securing a comfortable straight-sets victory over Notre Dame's Bojana Pozder.
Redshirt sophomore Krystal Blanch impressed with a heady performance to notch a three-set win in second singles. Making a return back to action this week, she has now totaled eight solo wins in 2025.
How it Happened
Singles Results:
Order of finish: 4, 5, 2, 6, 1
Doubles Results:
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
From Coach Wyshner
"Congrats to Notre Dame for a really well-played match. They came out and played a super energetic doubles point that still could have gone either way at second doubles. Singles was a battle. Players on both teams did a great job of fighting for second sets after losing first sets. That's a sign of how invested everyone was in the match. It was a close loss, which always hurts, but we got a huge win yesterday that extended our season. I am proud of that." - Head coach Jeff Wyshner
Up Next
Wake Forest will now await its NCAA Tournament fate, as the event's selection show is set to air on April 28. Fans can tune into NCAA.com for the reveal, along with additional details to come.
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
The Demon Deacons matched up with Notre Dame in the postseason for the first time since April 20, 2023 in the second round of the ACC tournament.
The contest involved Makayla Mills/Krystal Blanch winning their third consecutive doubles match playing together. Defeating No. 71 Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno, Thursday also marked the pair's third ranked win of the spring.
Junior Whitley Pate moved to 11-7 overall in singles this season, securing a comfortable straight-sets victory over Notre Dame's Bojana Pozder.
Redshirt sophomore Krystal Blanch impressed with a heady performance to notch a three-set win in second singles. Making a return back to action this week, she has now totaled eight solo wins in 2025.
How it Happened
- Through four games in doubles play, Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum worked to tie their match at 2-2.
- The court one pairing of Makayla Mills/Krystal Blanch then did the same minutes later.
- It wasn't long before both Carton/Tannenbaum and Mills/Blanch took a fifth game apiece for slight 3-2 advantages.
- In third doubles, Anna Zhang/Whitley Pate got into a quick groove to win two of three games midway in their match, trailing 4-3.
- Mills/Blanch seized control, finishing with the first victory (6-2).
- Meanwhile, Carton/Tannenbaum found themselves in an even matchup (4-4).
- Notre Dame took third doubles (6-3).
- Carton/Tannenbaum stayed competitive, again tying the board at 5 all.
- The Fighting Irish were able to hang on for a 7-5 finish in second doubles, capturing the opening point.
- A few Deacs got off to strong starts in singles play, as Pate and Zhang each tacked on 3-0 leads during their first set.
- Within fifth singles, Tannenbaum led 4-1.
- Pate and Tannenbaum ultimately became the first two players to secure first-set victories, the former doing so in a sweep.
- Zhang was the third Deac to take an opening set, while Sankavi Gownder forced a tiebreaker on court six.
- Bouncing back in a strong second set, Blanch forced a third in second singles.
- Pate was the first to add a point for Wake Forest, winning fourth singles in straight sets (6-0, 6-2).
- The Deacs tied the match at 1-1.
- Likewise to Blanch, Carton and Tannenbaum battled their way through three sets.
- Notre Dame went back ahead with a win on court five (2-1).
- Blanch played admirably down the stretch, completing a comeback win in three frames to tie the board at 2 all.
- Wins by Notre Dame in sixth and first singles put an end to the match, as the Fighting Irish earned the victory.
- Wake Forest fell, 4-2.
Singles Results:
- No. 65 Akari Matsuno (ND) def. No. 82 Nevena Carton (WF) 4-6, 6-3, 2-6
- Krystal Blanch (WF) def. Bianca Molnar (ND) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
- Anna Zhang (WF) vs. Nibedita Ghosh (ND) 6-4, 5-7, 1-2, unfinished
- Whitley Pate (WF) def. Bojana Pozder (ND) 6-0, 6-2
- Rylie Hanford (ND) def. Kady Tannenbaum (WF) 6-2, 2-6, 5-7
- Maria Olivia Castedo (ND) def. Sankavi Gownder (WF) 6-7 (3-7), 4-6
Order of finish: 4, 5, 2, 6, 1
Doubles Results:
- No. 79 Makayla Mills/Krystal Blanch (WF) def No. 71 Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno (ND) 6-2
- Nibedita Ghosh/Rylie Hanford (ND) def. No. 88 Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum (ND) 5-7
- Bianca Molnar/Bojana Pozder (ND) def. Anna Zhang/Whitley Pate (WF) 3-6
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
From Coach Wyshner
"Congrats to Notre Dame for a really well-played match. They came out and played a super energetic doubles point that still could have gone either way at second doubles. Singles was a battle. Players on both teams did a great job of fighting for second sets after losing first sets. That's a sign of how invested everyone was in the match. It was a close loss, which always hurts, but we got a huge win yesterday that extended our season. I am proud of that." - Head coach Jeff Wyshner
Up Next
Wake Forest will now await its NCAA Tournament fate, as the event's selection show is set to air on April 28. Fans can tune into NCAA.com for the reveal, along with additional details to come.
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
Order of Finish:
4,5,6,2,1
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