Wake Forest’s Come-From-Behind Effort Falls Just Short Against No. 32 SMU

Friday, March 13

Dallas, Texas

5 P.M.

Wake Forest University

SMU

Wake Forest’s Come-From-Behind Effort Falls Just Short Against No. 32 SMU

3/13/2026 9:51:00 PM | Women's Tennis

The Demon Deacons fought back in singles, but lost 4-3 on the road.

By: Joseph Baker

DALLAS, Texas – Wake Forest women's tennis' (8-9, 1-5 ACC) comeback attempt fell short Friday night as the Deacs lost, 4-3, to No. 32 SMU (10-4, 4-3 ACC). After falling behind 3-1, the Demon Deacons fought off match points in three separate matches and forced a 3-3 deadlock. In the end, Natalie Stasny denied Heidi Bulger of a third-set comeback with a win that would clinch the match. Sankavi Gownder, Evie Oxford and Nevena Carton were the three Demon Deacons who earned points in the singles session.

Krystal Blanch and Aubrey Nisbet got the Old Gold & Black off to a flying start with a dominant, 6-1, win in third doubles. SMU was able to pick up wins on the other two courts, and Wake Forest lost the doubles session.

Texas native Sankavi Gownder was in cruise control, picking up her tenth win of the season with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Addison Comiskey to level the match at one. Soon after, No. 59 Sophie Llewellyn would down Krystal Blanch and Caroline McGinley would defeat Kady Tannenbaum to put SMU on the cusp of victory.

Down 3-1, Nevena Carton and Evie Oxford showed tremendous fight, each winning their second sets to force a third. Heidi Bulger, with her back against the wall in a match-point scenario, then came through with an ace to win the game and prolong set two and the match. She would go on to win the second-set tiebreak, sending her match into a third set.

Carton proceeded to complete the comeback, defeating No. 49 Amalie Van Impe to draw the Demon Deacons within one. It was Carton's first ranked victory of the season. Oxford followed suit with a comeback win of her own, defeating Ellie Mireles after losing the first set, 6-1. Carton and Oxford both faced SMU match points before rallying to win.

It all came down to Bulger and Stasny on court five. Bulger, like Carton and Oxford, successfully fought off a match point in the second set and won to force a third. Despite her best efforts, Stasny prevailed and the home side secured the victory. The Deacs will head north next Saturday (March 21) when they visit Princeton.

Doubles Results

No. 10 Amalie Van Impe/Carolina McGinley (SMU) def. Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum (WFU), 6-3
Sophie Llewellyn/Natalie Stasny (SMU) def. Sankavi Gownder/Evie Oxford (WFU), 6-4
Krystal Blanch/Aubrey Nisbet (WFU) def. Addison Comiskey/Ellie Mireles (SMU), 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles Results

Nevena Carton (WFU) def. No. 49 Amalie Van Impe (SMU), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
No. 59 Sophie Llewellyn (SMU) def. Krystal Blanch (WFU), 6-3, 6-2
Caroline McGinley (SMU) vs. Kady Tannenbaum (WFU), 6-2, 6-4
Evie Oxford (WFU) def. Ellie Mireles (SMU), 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5
Natalie Stasny (SMU) def. Heidi Bulger (WFU), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
Sankavi Gownder (WFU) def. Addison Comiskey (SMU), 6-1, 6-3

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

How It Happened

Blanch/Nisbet quickly dismissed Comiskey/Mireles to give Wake Forest the early edge in doubles.
No. 10 Van Impe/McGinley and Llewellyn/Stasny each won, clinching SMU the doubles point.
- SMU led, 1-0.
Gownder improved to 10-1 on the year with a swift win over Comiskey to tie the match.
- Match tied, 1-1.
No. 59 Llewellyn and McGinley defeated Blanch and Tannenbaum, respectively, to put SMU back in front.
- SMU led, 3-1.
Bulger fought off three match points against Stasny and fought back to win the second set, prolonging the match.
Carton and Oxford earned comeback victories to level the match once again.
- Match tied, 3-3.
Stasny defeated Bulger in the third set in the final match of the night.
- SMU wins, 4-3.

From Coach Wyshner
"What a great match! That's the second time in a week that we've just refused to quit when a match looked like it was going to be a 4-1 loss. Heidi even held off three match points in her second set to help get us to where Nevena and Evie could come through with those big, third-set wins. I thought we were a bit unlucky in the doubles today. We had a couple of really bad bounces that led to us just coming up short after a really strong third doubles win from Aubrey and Krystal. Then singles went for over three hours. Credit to SMU for pulling it out; they never stopped playing well under pressure. We are a much better team than we were two months ago. Hopefully we can take that and get some momentum going our way in the final month of the regular season."

Up Next
Wake Forest will have the week off before heading up to No. 54 Princeton (11-1) for its final non-conference match of the season. The Deacs will be looking to snap the Tigers' seven-match winning streak on Saturday, March 21. Wake Forest leads the all-time series, 2-1, and won the last meeting back in 2020.