After a dominant weekend performance, the Wake Forest women’s tennis team has shown strength against three out-of-conference teams. 

At the 75th annual Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., the Demon Deacons picked up wins against Tulsa, No. 32 Illinois and No. 47 Texas Tech. The wins provided the team with a morale boost after suffering back-to-back losses to No. 10 NC State and South Carolina on Feb. 17 and 19, respectively. 

The women started the tournament strong on Feb. 24 with a 4-0 defeat over Tulsa in Lagoon Park. After an hour-and-a-half weather delay that canceled the doubles matches, four Demon Deacons picked up decisive wins against their singles opponents before Tulsa had a chance to respond.

Freshmen Nevena Carton and Whitney Pate along with graduate student Anna Brylin and senior Maddie Lynch defeated their opponents in straight sets. Juniors Cassie Wooten and Brooke Killingsworth’s matches were both left unfinished.

Wake Forest then faced off against Illinois and experienced similar success. While once again slowed down by a rain delay, the Demon Deacons finally got their chance to play doubles matches. 

Doubles pairing junior Mia Ahmad and Wooten, along with Carton and Pate, took down their opponents to earn the first point of the match.

Moving to singles, senior Maddie Lynch could not pull out the first two sets of the duel. Brylin, Killingsworth and Pate defeated their opponents in straight sets to win the match for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons won the match against Illinois by a score of 4-1.

The final match of the tournament was the following day on Feb. 25. The Demon Deacons defeated Texas Tech, the only other team with a spotless tournament record, by a score of 4-2.

Doubles team Brylin and Killingsworth, along with Ahmad and Wooten, defeated their opponents to win the first point for the Demon Deacons. Texas Tech was able to knot it up when Carton and Pate were defeated. 

Though Lynch was toppled in her match, Wooten, Bryling and Carton then went on to defeat their singles opponents in three, hard-fought matches to win the tournament. 

These wins allowed Wake Forest to claim its second Blue Gray Classic championship in four years. The team is now preparing for a home match-up against ACC opponent Clemson on Friday, March 3.