Sports > April 10, 2008

By Andrew LeRay | Staff writer

A women’s tennis season that saw the Deacons lead the ACC standings only two weeks ago has taken a turn for the worse. Five consecutive conference losses has the No. 32 Deacs sitting under .500 with an 8-10 overall record and 4-5 mark in the ACC.

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Senior Alex Hirsch serves during a match against TCU. The Lady Deacons lost to conference foes N.C. Sate, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. The Deacs will host Florida State April 11. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

Wake Forest traveled to Duke on April 3 to battle the No. 7 Blue Devils in Durham, N.C.

The Deacons were turned away by Duke, dropping the match 6-1 at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The Blue Devils’ record now stands at 13-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference.

Sophomore Sasha Kulikova posted the only Deacon victory of the afternoon, winning her No. 1 singles matchup against Duke sophomore Tara Iyer.

Duke won four singles matches in straight sets and took five singles victories overall.

After the disappointing showing at Duke, the Deacons drove to Chapel Hill for a match against the Tar Heels on April 5.

The new venue provided similar results for Wake Forest, as the Deacs fell to the No. 15 Tar Heels 7-0 at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. With the shutout victory, the Tar Heels now stand at 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the ACC.

In the first match against the Heels, junior Sierra Poske suffered a minor leg injury and was to forfeit the No. 1 doubles match with partner Kulikova. With no available players on the bench, the Deacons forfeited Poske’s single match as well, which put Wake in an even bigger hole.

The Deacons dropped three of the five singles matches via straight set victories from the Tar Heels.

However, the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches were played closely by both Kulikova and junior Christian Tara who forced a tiebreaker in each of their singles matches before falling.

The losing streak continued in Raleigh, N.C., as Wake Forest dropped their fifth straight conference match by a score of 5-2 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on the N.C. State campus.

Due to the injuries sustained to the Deacs, Wake was forced to forfeit the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches before the first ball of the afternoon was served.

“As of right now, everyone on the team is a little sore but this happens by the end of the season,” Kulikova said.

“We need to take care of our health and make sure the little things don’t interfere with team goals.”

Kulikova continued her strong play by winning her No. 1 singles match against Wolfpack sophomore Daria Petrovic in straight sets.

The other Deacon victory of the afternoon was recorded by sophomore Aileen Davis at No. 5 singles, defeating N.C. State sophomore Catherine Grotz.

The Wolfpack won the remaining two doubles matches to solidify the 5-2 conference win over the Deacons. N.C. State improved to 11-8 and 4-5 in the conference.

The schedule does not get any easier for the Deacons as the regular season comes to a close.

“We need to focus on these last two home matches as much as we can,” Kulikova said. “We’ve had a tough season and we played some tough opponents on the road with a lot of matches coming down to the third set. Miami and FSU are tough teams but playing at home will obviously be a big advantage for us.”

Wake Forest will host the final two matches of the season as No. 18 Florida State comes to Leighton Tennis Stadium on April 11 and No. 11 Miami will come to town on April 13.