Following two big late season wins on the road against Boston College and Maryland, the Lady Deacons were riding high heading into their first round ACC Tournament matchup with instate conference rival N.C. State. The Wolfpack had beaten the Deacs earlier in the season 5-2, but Wake was confident that they could score the upset, one they would need to bolster their postseason hopes.

John Turner/Old Gold and Black

The Deacons came out firing in doubles, as both the first and third doubles teams won their matches 8-6 to help the Deacs capture the doubles point they couldn’t secure in the teams’ earlier meeting in Raleigh back in early March.

At number one doubles, senior All-ACC singles selection Sasha Kulikova teamed with junior Emilee Malvehy for the win while another All-ACC selection, sophomore Martina Pavelec, teamed with sophomore Ryan Cutillo at the third spot.

Up 1-0 heading into singles play, the Deacs faltered early, losing two close matches at the fourth and fifth spots to go down 1-2.  However, 47th ranked Pavelec came through for the Deacs at the number one spot, winning a tough three set match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

“By the time I was in the third set I knew that I had a very good chance to win and I just tried to close it out,” Pavelec said.

With the match deadlocked at two and the season on the line,  the Deacs knew that they had to up their game and they did just that as both Malvehy and Kulikova won three tough set matches.  With the win, Wake was on to the quarterfinals to face number one ranked North Carolina. Back on March 31 at Chapel Hill, the Deacs pulled off a pair of singles wins to push the Tarhells in a close 5-2 match.

The Lady Deacons got off to a tough start against the Tar Heels this time around as they dropped the first and third doubles positions in close matches to lose the doubles point. Junior Kat Reveche and senior Aileen Davis then fell at the fourth and sixth singles spots to go down 0-3.

Knowing the team needed to win the remaining matches, the Deacs substantially picked up their game and looked like they were mounting a comeback.

At number one singles, Pavelec had split sets with 22nd ranked Sanaz Marand, however she  knew that she had let one slip away.

“I should have definitely won my first set in singles. I was serving at 5:4 and lost that game easily which should not happen,” Pavelec said.

Also, both Kulikova and Malvehy had won their first sets.  Ultimately it was a little too late as Cutillo dropped a tough match at the number five spot to give the Tarheels the abbreviated 4-0 win.

“I think we did a pretty good job,” Pavelec said. “They are very tough to play and we had a bunch of close matches.”

With the loss the Demon Deacons sit at 11-14 overall and must wait until May 4 to hear if they receive an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament.