Sports > April 26, 2007

By Lindsey Binder | Staff writer

The women’s tennis team finished their season with a 14-7 record as they headed into the ACC Championships with a sixth seed this past weekend at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.. The first round Wake played 11th-seeded Maryland and won 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinals where they played third-seeded North Carolina and lost 4-0.

The Deacs won the doubles points.

At the No. 2 position freshman Sasha Kulikova and sophomore Ana Jerman defeated Brook Rogers and Maggie MacKeever 8-2. Then at the No. 3 spot, Wake’s senior Christine Simpson and sophomore Sierra Poske beat Elyse Steiner and Lisa Miller 8-3. For singles, senior Ashlee Davis was victorious at the No. 2 spot, defeating Eleanor Peters 6-2, 6-2.

Kulikova won 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 4 position and Simpson also won 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 6 position.

Kulikova and Jerman won against the Tar Heel’s 22nd-ranked team of Caitlin Collins and Sanaz Marand. Kulikova and Jerman dominated with an 8-1 win for the Deacons’ first and only doubles point.

North Carolina’s fifth-ranked pair, Jenna Long and Sarah Anundsen, beat the Deacs’ 31st-ranked team of Davis and junior Alexandra Hirsch, 8-6.

The match was tied at 1-1 and the fight for the doubles points fell to the third position.

The Demon Deacons put up a hard fight and it looked like Poske and Simpson were going to make a comeback against UNC’s Austin Smith and Meg Fanjoy, but they fell short and lost 8-5.

For singles, the Tar Heels continued to have success against the Deacons. At the No. 1 position, fourth-ranked Long defeated No. 61 Hirsch 6-2, 6-2.

Then at the No. 2 position, No. 48 Tsang defeated No. 108 Davis 6-1, 6-2.

At the No. 3 position, the Tar Heels clinched the match with Collins defeating Jerman 6-2, 6-3.

Earlier, sophomore Christian Tara and Poske looked to force matches into the third set at the five and six positions respectively.

Next up for the Deacs’ is the NCAA regional championships where they are slated to begin May 11-12.

The exact schedule will be announced on ESPN May 1 at 2:30 p.m.