Wake Forest Falls at No. 21 Stanford to Open ACC Play

Friday, February 27

Stanford, Calif.

4:30 P.M.

Wake Forest University

Stanford

Wake Forest Falls at No. 21 Stanford to Open ACC Play

2/27/2026 9:27:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

The Demon Deacons dropped their first match of their west coast road trip, 4-0.

By: Joseph Baker

STANFORD, Calif. – Friday's match got off to an entertaining start, with the doubles point coming down to a pair of matches that finished 7-5. Stanford (6-4, 2-1 ACC) quickly took care of the match on court two, but Wake Forest (7-5, 0-1 ACC) fought back on court one. Kady Tannenbaum's impact was immediately felt, as she and Nevena Carton defeated Stanford's top doubles pair, 7-5, in Tannenbaum's first match back. The point came down to a tight battle on court three between Wake Forest's Evie Oxford and Heidi Bulger and Stanford's Sein Myoung and Morgan Shaffer. Despite some clutch winners by Oxford to push the match to 5-5, Stanford would win the next couple of sets to take a 1-0 lead.

Tannenbaum and Carton both won their first set in singles play, but Stanford was able to gain a first-set lead in the other four matches. Nationally ranked Alyssa Ahn (No. 29) would record the first singles win of the day over Krystal Blanch, followed shortly after by teammate Tianmei Wang, who defeated Bulger to put Stanford up, 3-0. The Deacs fought hard but were unable to dig themselves out of the hole, as Caroline Driscoll came back to best Tannenbaum and clinch the match.

Carton was able to push No. 62 Monika Ekstrand, as their match finished without a result despite Carton winning the first set and being on pace to win the second. It would have been her first ranked singles win of the season.

Wake Forest will have a chance to get back into the win column tomorrow, when the Deacs cross the bridge to head up to Berkley. Despite falling to No. 27 NC State earlier today, Cal ranks No. 7 nationally and holds a winning ACC record.

Doubles Results

Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum (WFU) def. Monika Ekstrand/Caroline Driscoll (STAN), 7-5
Alyssa Ahn/Tianmei Wang (STAN) def. Krystal Blanch/Aubrey Nisbet (WFU), 6-2
Sein Myoung/Morgan Shaffer def. Heidi Bulger/Evie Oxford (WFU), 7-5

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles Results

Nevena Carton (WFU) vs. No. 62 Monika Ekstrand (STAN), 7-5, 5-4 (unfinished)
No. 29 Alyssa Ahn (STAN) def. Krystal Blanch (WFU), 6-0, 6-1
Caroline Driscoll (STAN) def. Kady Tannenbaum (WFU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Tianmei Wang (STAN) def. Heidi Bulger (WFU), 6-0, 6-0
Sein Myoung (STAN) vs. Evie Oxford (WFU), 6-4, 6-5 (unfinished)
Morgan Shaffer (STAN) vs. Aubrey Nisbet (WFU), 7-6, 3-3 (unfinished)

Order of finish: 2, 4, 3

How It Happened

All three doubles matches got off to entertaining starts, with Wake Forest leading two of them early.
Ahn/Wang pulled away from Blanch/Nisbet to give the Cardinal the advantage.
Carton/Tannenbaum picked up where they left off, beating Stanford's top duo to bring Wake Forest level.
Oxford/Bulger fought to even the match at 5-5 before dropping the next two sets to Myoung/Shaffer.
- Stanford won doubles.
Stanford continued its momentum, as No. 29 Ahn and Wang both won in straight sets.
- Stanford led, 3-0.
Carton and Tannenbaum were able to win their opening sets.
Driscoll came back from her opening set loss to defeat Tannenbaum and end the match.
- Stanford wins, 4-0.
Carton took control of her match against No. 62 Ekstrand, but couldn't finish due to the match being clinched.

From Coach Wyshner
"Pretty pleased today with our play in doubles. That's been such a struggle for us, but the hard work we've been putting in there is starting to show. For Kady and Nevena, pulling that one out today was big after leading at the first spot last year [against Stanford] when we thought we deserved to win. I think they had this one circled on their schedule. We played well in singles. Some really great efforts. Nevena was 30-love at 5-4 and 2 points from winning the match so it is unfortunate she didn't get to finish. We were short a third of our team today, so I'm really proud of those who were ready to go and gave it such a good fight. Hopefully, we'll find six capable players heading into tomorrow's match with Cal."

What's Next
Wake Forest will make the short trip north to take on No. 7 California. The Golden Bears were undefeated heading into the weekend, but lost earlier today to NC State, 4-1. Wake Forest is 1-5 all-time against Cal and fell, 4-1, last season in Winston-Salem.