Sports > April 3, 2008

By Alex Botoman | Staff writer

The women’s tennis team’s perfect 4-0 ACC record was foiled on the road as they lost lopsided matches to Clemson and No. 3 Georgia Tech. The Deacons fell to 8-7 (4-2) on the season.

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Junior Ana Jerman prepares to return the ball during a home game against TCU. The women’s tennis team will take on Duke, UNC and N.C. State April 3, 5 and 6 respectively. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

The Deacs’ road trip started with a 1-6 loss to the Clemson Tigers March 29. Wake fell into an early 1-0 hole after losing the doubles point.

At No. 1 doubles, Clemson’s No. 20 ranked tandem of Carol Salge and Ani Mijacika cruised past Deacon junior Sierra Poske and sophomore Sasha Kulikova 8-3.

The Tigers clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 win at No. 3 by Alexandra Luc and Ina Hadziselimovic over senior Alex Hirsch and sophomore Aileen Davis. Junior Christian Tara and junior Ana Jerman picked up a doubles win for the Deacs at No. 2 with an 8-6 win against Federica Adrichem and Estefania Balda.

“We definitely had our chances to win the doubles point which could have changed the whole match,” said Hirsch. “That could have given us the momentum going into singles, where there were a couple very close matches that could have gone either way.”

Unfortunately for Wake, Clemson came out of the doubles with the momentum and proceeded to storm through the singles matches. At No. 1 singles, the Tigers’ Mijacika, who is ranked No. 2 overall in the nation, defeated Hirsch 6-4, 6-1.

Salge put Clemson up 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tara at No. 3 singles. Freshman Emilee Malvehy kept the Deacons alive for at least a little longer with a 7-5, 6-4 upset win over No. 124 ranked Adrichem at the No. 4 singles spot.

However, Balda rallied to clinch the match for the Tigers at No. 2 singles with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Kulikova

At No. 5 singles, Clemson’s Hadziselimovic cruised past freshman Katarina Reveche 6-1, 6-2.

After getting off to a rough start in the No. 6 singles match against the Tigers’ Luc, Davis fought back to make the second set competitive, but it wasn’t enough as she fell 6-1, 7-6.

The road trip did not get any easier for the Deacons as they traveled to Atlanta, Ga. to take on the defending national champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Jackets used a lineup that contained four singles players ranked in the top 40 in the nation.

Georgia Tech swept the doubles matches to go up 1-0. At No. 2 doubles Tech’s Whitney McCray and Noelle Hickey took down Hirsch and Malvehy 8-2.

The Jackets clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 win at No. 3 by Amanda McDowell and Kristen Flower over Tara and Davis. Georgia Tech rounded out the sweep with an 8-5 win by Sasha Krupina and Kristi Miller over Kulikova and Jerman at No. 1 doubles.

Tech didn’t let up in the singles matches as they went a perfect 6-0.

At No. 3 singles Wake’s Tara played a tough second set but still fell to No. 39 McCray 6-1, 7-5. No. 29 ranked Maya Johansson put the Jackets up 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Davis at No. 6 singles.

In what was likely her last college match in her hometown of Atlanta, the Deacons’ Hirsch fell 6-3, 6-1 to No. 6 ranked Kristi Miller at No. 1 singles to clinch the match for Georgia Tech.

“It’s always nice to play at home where you have family and friends who come out and support you,” said Hirsch. “It’s definitely a little strange knowing I won’t play at home (Atlanta) anymore, but Wake has opened the door to so many new opportunities and I have a lot to look forward to in the future.”

At No. 2 singles, Wake’s unranked Kulikova took No. 4 ranked McDowell to the brink, but ended up losing the match tiebreak to fall 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. The Jackets also picked up victories by Hickey over Reveche at No. 5 and Christy Striplin over Malvehy at No. 4 to round out the sweep.

The Deacons will look for an upset as face road matches against rivals No. 6 Duke April 3 and No. 12 UNC-Chapel Hill April 5, as well as a match at NC State April 6.

“At Wake, we never want to lose to UNC or Duke,” said Hirsch. “We need to put the past two matches in the past and look ahead at the opportunities we have to upset two good teams.”