Wake Forest women’s tennis continued their home winning streak this past weekend in a doubleheader. Coming off a 0-4 road loss to Furman, the team was searching to get back on track. The Demon Deacons redeemed themselves on Friday as they earned a nailbiter 4-3 against the Marshall Fighting Herd, then had a convincing 7-0 sweep of the Spartans of UNC Greensboro later in the day. 

In their opening match, the Deacs dropped both doubles matches and surrendered the first point of the match. Marshall’s Polina Gumeniuk and Alina Mokrynska defeated Wake Forest’s Nevena Carton and Kady Tannenbaum, 6-1, and Marshall’s Johanna Strom and Nour El Ouzzani defeated Wake Forest’s Sankavi Gownder and Aubrey Nisbet, 6-2. Wake Forest is still trying to find their rhythm at third singles this season, as this was Gownder and Nisbet’s first time as a pair this spring. The Deacs will look to solidify the duo as the year progresses.

This forced the singles players to step up — and they did. Evie Oxford, Kady Tannenbaum and Sankavi Gownder all defeated their respective opponents in straight sets. Krystal Blanch defeated Marshall’s Johanna Strom in a three-set battle 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to grab the fourth and final win and secure the victory over the Herd. 

Marshall picked up a pair of hard-fought thrillers over Wake Forest’s Nevena Carton (7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 1-0 (13-11)) and Heidi Bulger (2-6, 6-3, 6-4) to bring the score to 4-3, but their efforts were too late. 

Using the momentum of the earlier win, the Demon Deacons breezed past UNC Greensboro, sweeping the doubles and winning all six singles matches. They dropped no more than four games in a set across all matches. Gownder highlighted the singles matches with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Greensboro’s Kayley Bushnell. A leading force this season for the Deacs, Gownder will look for yet another triumph next weekend.

“Proud of the way the group responded after losing the doubles point to a good Marshall team,” Coach Wyshner said of the weekend. “Doubleheaders are always tough mentally and physically, and the players handled the second match with great maturity.”

The Deacs improved to 3-0 at home and now prepare to head to Old Dominion on Saturday, Feb. 7, in search of their first road win. Winning away from home has been difficult for the Deacs in recent seasons, and they hope to end that trend in the coming weeks.