Wake Forest Tops South Carolina 4-3
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – South Carolina fell to Wake Forest in a competitive match Saturday afternoon. After Wake Forest took doubles, Elise Mills, Ayana Akli and Sarah Hamner earned points for the Gamecocks in singles.
Junior Mills wasted no time in her match against Samantha Martinelli. Mills waxed her Demon Deacon opponent 6-0 in the first set and quickly went up 4-1 in the second set. Marinelli closed in at 4-3, but Mills came alive to earn the 6-3 win and put the Gamecocks on the board. Mills remains undefeated in singles play this spring.
The Demon Deacons would claim the next two points in the match at the Nos. 5 and 6 spots, but the Gamecocks would not go unanswered. No. 28 Akli played a competitive match against No. 75 Anna Campana. Campana took the first set 6-3, but Akli was ready to fight. She went up 3-0 in the second set and continued to stay ahead for the 6-3 win. Akli settled in from there and won five consecutive games in the final set to earn the 6-1 win. Akli’s win marked her first of the spring season and brought the overall score to South Carolina 2, Wake Forest 3.
Shortly thereafter in the No. 3 spot, Wake Forest clinched the match with a straight sets win.
Play finished out at the top of the lineup with the final match between No. 2 Hamner and No. 35 Carolyn Campana. After beginning the match with a 1-3 first-set deficit, Hamner pushed back to send play into a tiebreak in which she won 7-6 (6). The second set went to Campana in a 6-3 decision, but Hamner was not ready to give up. She went ahead 4-0 and eventually won the third set 6-3 to notch the final point for South Carolina. Hamner also remains undefeated in singles this spring.
The Gamecocks will take on No. 6 NC State Sunday at 2 p.m. Live scoring for the match will be available here and live video will be available here.
Wake Forest def. South Carolina 4-3
Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3*)
1. No. 2 Anna Brylin/Brooke Killingsworth (WF) def. Misa Malkin/Sarah Hamner (SC) 6-0
2. No. 15 Casie Wooten/Samantha Martinelli (WF) def. Ayana Akli/Megan Davies (SC) 6-3
3. Peyton Pesavento/Saby Nihalani (WF) vs. Kendall Couch/Ana Cruz (SC) 4-4, DNF
Singles (Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6, 2, 3*, 1)
1. No. 2 Sarah Hamner (SC) def. No. 35 Carolyn Campana (WF) 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3
2. No. 28 Ayana Akli (SC) def. No. 75 Anna Campana (WF) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
3. No. 58 Casie Wooten (WF) def. No. 118 Megan Davies (SC) 7-5, 6-4
4. Elise Mills (SC) def. Samantha Martinelli (WF) 6-0, 6-3
5. Anna Brylin (WF) def. Misa Malkin (SC) 6-1, 6-1
6. Brooke Killingsworth (WF) def. Ana Cruz (SC) 6-3, 6-2
