Women's Tennis Continues ACC Play Against SMU

DALLAS, Texas – Wake Forest women's tennis (8-8, 1-4 ACC) will head southwest to Dallas to take on No. 32 SMU (9-4, 3-3 ACC) for the sixth time in program history on Friday, March 13. This is the first time the pair will meet in regular season ACC play. Last season, the Deacs matched up with the Mustangs in their first match of the 2025 ACC Women's Tennis Championships, winning by a score of 4-2. Nevena Carton and Kady Tannenbaum picked up singles wins in that victory. This will be the first time the Deacs play SMU in a true road match since 1990.

Wake Forest is still searching for its first road victory of the season, and the team will have two chances to earn that breakthrough win over its next couple of matches. Following the SMU match, the Deacs will have a full week off before heading north to do battle with Princeton in what will be their final non-conference match of the season.

Homecoming

Despite the recent struggles, the Demon Deacons have gotten great singles performances this season from its pair of Texans. Evie Oxford (11-1), from Dallas, and Sankavi Gownder (9-1), from Cypress, have stood out with a tremendous combined .909 winning percentage this season. Oxford has won 11 straight since losing her season opener, while Gownder holds claim to the highest-ranked singles win of the year on the team (def. No. 82 Elim Yan of Tennessee). They will return to their home state of Texas looking to add on to their fantastic seasons.

Series History & Match Info

Wake Forest leads all-time series, 3-2

Last meeting: 2025, 4-2 win (neutral)

Current streak: Wake Forest W3

First serve is set for 5 p.m. ET on Friday, March 13. You can watch the action live here.

Last Time Out

Wake Forest lost, 4-0 to No. 14 NC State. The loss dropped the Deacs to 1-4 in conference play this season and 8-8 overall.

NC State's ranked doubles pairs picked up wins on courts one and two, giving the Wolfpack an early 1-0 lead. Though the match remained unfinished, Krystal Blanch and Aubrey Nisbet battled from a 4-2 deficit to a 6-6 final score on court three.

In singles, NC State took control early and never relented. The Wolfpack took a first-set lead in all six matches, and a trio of ranked players would go on to win in straight sets to clinch the match. Evie Oxford came the closest of any Demon Deacon to winning a set, as she took six games from Victoria Osuigwe in a set that came down to a tiebreaker (Osuigwe won, 7-5). She, Sankavi Gownder and Nevena Carton would all have their matches conclude without a decision.

Up Next

Wake Forest will head up to New Jersey to take on No. 54 Princeton (10-1) on Saturday, March 21. It will be the fourth meeting between the programs, all-time, and the first since the Demon Deacons defeated the Tigers, 4-1, in 2020. First serve is set for 12 p.m.

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