Friday, May 2
Knoxville, TN
1 p.m.
Wake Forest University
1
vs
4
Pepperdine
Demon Deacons See Season End in First Round of the NCAA Tournament
5/2/2025 5:41:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Friday marked the team’s ninth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Wrapping up another successful season under the leadership of head coach Jeff Wyshner, the No. 37 Wake Forest women's tennis team saw their season come to an end on Friday afternoon, falling to No. 26 Pepperdine in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, 4-1.
After dropping the first match within doubles play on court three, the Demon Deacons (15-14, 3-9 ACC) claimed the final two doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead in the contest. Growing out to a 5-1 advantage, graduate student Makayla Mills and redshirt sophomore Krystal Blanch wrapped up their match at first doubles against Oved/Scilipoti with a 6-4 victory to tie up doubles. Meanwhile, junior Nevena Carton and freshman Kady Tannenbaum clinched the doubles point in a seven-point tiebreaker against Harmon/Grechinka, taking the match at second doubles, 7-6 (7-3).
With their two wins on Friday, the Deacs finished the season with a combined 43-25 doubles record, including 13 victories from Carton/Tannenbaum and 11 wins from No. 64 Blanch/Mills.
Despite being swept by the Waves (15-11, 5-1 WCC) in singles action, the Deacs came close to taking multiple matches. Carton was one point away from securing a three-set victory at first singles, ultimately seeing her match against Vivian Yang go unfinished (6-3, 2-6, 5-4).
After dropping the first set of her match at fourth singles, junior Whitley Pate bounced back to take a lead late in the third set of her match against Sebastianna Scilipoti before seeing it go unfinished (5-7, 6-4, 4-3).
How It Happened
Singles Results
Order of finish: 6, 3, 5, 2
Doubles Results
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
From Coach Wyshner
"That was a good, hard-fought match. Like our entire season, we had to fight and we did. Really proud of this group. We played a very good doubles point and had chances for three or more singles matches. Credit to Pepperdine. They played really well in key moments. I definitely want to thank Anna [Zhang] and Makayla [Mills] for giving us a great year, and I wish I had been able to coach them for more than just one year. For everyone else coming back, we improved throughout this year and that's a key part of what we are trying to do. It's always tough to see the season end, but in a day or two, I know I'll feel really good about what this team accomplished together." - head coach Jeff Wyshner
2025 Season Overview
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
After dropping the first match within doubles play on court three, the Demon Deacons (15-14, 3-9 ACC) claimed the final two doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead in the contest. Growing out to a 5-1 advantage, graduate student Makayla Mills and redshirt sophomore Krystal Blanch wrapped up their match at first doubles against Oved/Scilipoti with a 6-4 victory to tie up doubles. Meanwhile, junior Nevena Carton and freshman Kady Tannenbaum clinched the doubles point in a seven-point tiebreaker against Harmon/Grechinka, taking the match at second doubles, 7-6 (7-3).
With their two wins on Friday, the Deacs finished the season with a combined 43-25 doubles record, including 13 victories from Carton/Tannenbaum and 11 wins from No. 64 Blanch/Mills.
Despite being swept by the Waves (15-11, 5-1 WCC) in singles action, the Deacs came close to taking multiple matches. Carton was one point away from securing a three-set victory at first singles, ultimately seeing her match against Vivian Yang go unfinished (6-3, 2-6, 5-4).
After dropping the first set of her match at fourth singles, junior Whitley Pate bounced back to take a lead late in the third set of her match against Sebastianna Scilipoti before seeing it go unfinished (5-7, 6-4, 4-3).
How It Happened
- After dropping the first point of their doubles match, Blanch and Mills rattled off five straight points to take 5-1 lead on court one.
- Pepperdine picked up the win on court three to take an early advantage in doubles play.
- Blanch/Mills closed out their match at first doubles over Oved/Scilipoti, 6-4, to tie doubles play at 1-1.
- Carton and Tannenbaum clinched the doubles point for the Deacs in a seven-point tiebreaker, defeating Harmon/Grechkina (7-6 (7-3)).
- Underway in singles, Tannenbaum came away with a dominant first-set win on court five, 6-3.
- After the Waves claimed the first set on court three, Carton responded immediately with a 6-3 first set on court one.
- Pepperdine took the first set on courts two, four, and six.
- The Waves evened the match with a victory at sixth singles.
- Pepperdine also forced a third set on court one.
- Zhang bounced back in the second set with a 6-4 win to force a third set on court three.
- Pate forced a final set of her own on court four moments later.
- Pepperdine forced a third set on court five.
- The Waves took the lead with a victory at third singles.
- Pepperdine rattled off back-to-back wins on courts two and five, as the Demon Deacons fell, 4-1
Singles Results
- No. 82 Nevena Carton (WF) vs. Vivian Yang (Pepperdine) 6-3, 2-6, 5-4 UF
- Anastasiia Grechkina (Pepperdine) def. Krystal Blanch (WF) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3)
- Alexia Harmon (Pepperdine) def. Anna Zhang (WF) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
- Whitley Pate (WF) vs. Sebastianna Scilipoti (Pepperdine) 5-7, 6-4, 4-3 UF
- Duru Soke (Pepperdine) def. Kady Tannenbaum (WF) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
- Liam Oved (Pepperdine) def. Sankavi Gownder (WF) 6-4, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 3, 5, 2
Doubles Results
- No. 64 Blanch/Mills (WF) def. Oved/Scilipoti (Pepperdine) 6-4
- Carton/Tannenbaum (WF) def. Harmon/Grechinka (Pepperdine) 7-6 (7-3)
- Soke/Yang (Pepperdine) def. Zhang/Pate (WF) 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
From Coach Wyshner
"That was a good, hard-fought match. Like our entire season, we had to fight and we did. Really proud of this group. We played a very good doubles point and had chances for three or more singles matches. Credit to Pepperdine. They played really well in key moments. I definitely want to thank Anna [Zhang] and Makayla [Mills] for giving us a great year, and I wish I had been able to coach them for more than just one year. For everyone else coming back, we improved throughout this year and that's a key part of what we are trying to do. It's always tough to see the season end, but in a day or two, I know I'll feel really good about what this team accomplished together." - head coach Jeff Wyshner
2025 Season Overview
- The Demon Deacons matched a program record for the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, earning their ninth-straight NCAA Tournament berth this season.
- The last time the Deacs appeared in nine-consecutive tournaments happened from 1994 to 2002.
- Head coach Jeff Wyshner etched his name into Wake Forest history this season, as he became the all-time winningest head coach in program history.
- Wyshner, who wrapped up his 15th season in Winston-Salem, earned his 192nd victory with the Demon Deacons following a 7-0 shutout against Elon on January 26th.
- He also became the first Demon Deacons head coach to eclipse the 200-win mark at Wake Forest, earning his 200th victory with the Deacs in the team's highest-ranked victory of the season against No. 30 Clemson on March 30th.
- Ending the season with a 15-14 record, the Demon Deacons have now won 15-plus matches in each of the last four seasons dating back to the 2021-22 season.
- Individually, junior Nevena Carton took a massive step in her first season at the No. 1 singles position, finishing the season with a team-best 13 victories.
- The Locust, N.J., native secured three victories over nationally-ranked players, including back-to-back wins over No. 22 Sara Ziodato of Virginia (March 7th) and No. 26 Ozlem Uslu of Virginia Tech (March 9th), to earn her first career ACC Player of the Week honor back in March.
- In doubles, the Demon Deacons combined for a 43-25 record, with three doubles teams eclipsing double-digit wins.
- Graduate student Anna Zhang and junior Whitley Pate led the way with a 17-4 record in dual match play, including starting the season 15-0.
- Meanwhile, graduate student Makayla Mills and redshirt sophomore Krystal Blanch ended the season with 11 wins at the first doubles spot, including three victories over ranked opponents.
- Freshman Kady Tannenbaum had an outstanding freshman season, finishing with 12 singles victories, which ranked second on the team.
- The Commack, N.Y., native also got it done in doubles action alongside Carton, with the duo combining for 13 wins during the spring season.
- In total, four Demon Deacons ended the season with double-digit victories in singles action this campaign.
- Nevena Carton - 13 wins
- Kady Tannenbaum - 12 wins
- Whitley Pate - 11 wins
- Sankavi Gownder - 10 wins
Follow the Deacs
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | GoDeacs.com
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
1234
6250
Yang,Vivian / 0 [PEPPW]
364UF
#2 Singles Match
12
66
Grechkina,Anastasiia / 0 (56/-) [PEPPW]
77
#3 Singles Match
123
261
Harmon,Alexia / 0 [PEPPW]
646
#4 Singles Match
1234
5640
Scilipoti,Sebastiann / 0 [PEPPW]
743UF
#5 Singles Match
123
662
Soke,Duru / 0 [PEPPW]
376
#6 Singles Match
12
41
Oved,Liam / 0 [PEPPW]
66
Order of Finish:
6,3,5,2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
Wake Forest Head Football Coach Jake Dickert Weekly Press Conference (10/27/2025)
Monday, October 27
Wake Forest Defensive Back Davaughn Patterson Postgame vs. SMU (Oct. 25, 2025)
Saturday, October 25
Wake Forest Wide Receiver Chris Barnes Postgame Press Conference vs. SMU (Oct. 25, 2025)
Saturday, October 25
Wake Forest Kicker Connor Calvert Postgame Press Conference vs. SMU (Oct. 25, 2025)
Saturday, October 25