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While both Men’s and Women’s teams flamed out in the 2nd round of the NCAA Team tournament, Wake Forest still had a fair amount of representation in the individual brackets.
And to some shock, both of Wake’s higher seeds fell, while the lower seeds cruised to easy victories, go figure.
Anna Campana, a Sophomore out of California, and the women’s team #2 singles player absolutely dominated Taylor Bridges out of LSU 6-0, 6-3 and became the first women’s tennis player from Wake to make the round of 32 since 2005. Campana also got a little bit of help bracket-wise as the 9-16 seed in her pool was upset, and now she’ll get to face another unseeded player in Bunyawi Thamchaiwat from Oklahoma State, coming off a grueling 7-5 win in the third set. Since all of these matches are played on back-to-back days, getting through some early matches easier will set you up well. Anna’s sister Carolyn, however, wasn’t so fortunate as she fell in a tough 3 set loss to Yulia Starodubsteva of Old Dominion 6-4 in the third set. Carolyn gets another chance today to keep playing as she and Eliza Omirou take on a duo from Duke in Margaryta Bilokin and Meible Chi.
On the men’s side, Eduardo Nave really turned it on this year and that form he’d shown to end the year remained yesterday as he took out #11 Matias Soto from Baylor 6-4, 6-3.
No. 40 Eduardo Nava def. No. 11 Matias Soto (Baylor).
— Wake Men's Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 24, 2021
He'll take on UNC's No. 24 Rinky Hijikata on Monday.#GoDeacs | #NCAATennis https://t.co/yeMJrMakMu pic.twitter.com/53LH6kVtWy
Nava will take on UNC standout freshman RInky Hijikata today, in a matchup I’ll be watching as it should be fun. Wake’s own freshman standout Henri Squire, unfortunately, didn’t have the same luck falling to #48 Florian Broska. Squire was up a break and seemed to be in control but then things just kind of got away from him quickly and ended up falling in straight sets.
In doubles, Squire will also get a chance to further his freshman campaign as him and Nave will take on the #1 overall seed in Ole Miss’ Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds. On the women’s side, Anna Brylin and Brooke Killingsworth made it in and will also take on the #1 seed in their bracket, Kentucky’s Akvilė Paražinskaitė and Fiona Arrese.