KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 27 Pepperdine women's tennis team defeated #35 Wake Forest 4-1 at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Friday afternoon to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th-straight tournament. 
 
The Waves (15-11, 5-1 WCC) dropped the doubles point, but came out and won four straight singles matches to defeat the Demon Deacons (15-14, 3-9 ACC) for the first time in program history.
 
Duru Söke and Vivian Yang won their doubles match, cruising to a 6-3 victory, however Wake Forest bounced back and took a court of their own as all eyes turned to the lone court remaining. Alexia Harmon and Anastasiia Grechkina traded games with the Demon Deacons duo and headed to a tiebreak deadlocked 6-6. In the tiebreak, the Wake Forest duo jumped out to a 5-2 advantage and went on to win the court to claim the doubles point for the Demon Deacons.
 
In singles play, freshman Liam Oved tied the overall match 1-1, dominating court six and defeating Sankavi Gownder 6-4, 6-1. Playing on the third court, Harmon won her first set 6-2, but fell 4-6 in the second. In the final set, the Waves freshman regained her composure and cruised to a 6-1 victory against Whitley Pate to put Pepperdine in front 2-1.
 
In slot No. 5, Söke dropped her first set 3-6, but rebounded by grinding out a 7-6 (7-5) win in the second set to force a third. In her first NCAA Tournament match, Söke rode the momentum from the thrilling tiebreak to comfortably defeat Kady Tannenbaum 6-2 in the final set as she put Pepperdine in front 3-1 and one point away from clinching the match.
 
On court two, Grechkina - the Waves 56th-ranked freshman - won 7-6, 7-6 as she took both tiebreaks to sweep Krystal Blanch, clinch the match and put Pepperdine in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th-straight tournament.
 
When the match ended, the Waves were in the third set in both of the remaining courts. Pepperdine will take on the winner of #10 Tennessee and Elon with first serve set for 1 p.m. PT tomorrow. All schedule updates can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
 
RESULTS
Singles
1. Vivian Yang (PEPP) vs. #82 Nevena Carton (WFU) 3-6, 6-2, 4-5, unfinished
2. #56 Anastasiia Grechkina (PEPP) def. Krystal Blanch (WFU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3)
3. Alexia Harmon (PEPP) def. Anna Zhang (WFU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
4. Sebastianna Scilipoti (PEPP) vs. Whitley Pate (WFU) 7-5, 4-6, 3-4, unfinished
5. Duru Söke (PEPP) def. Kady Tannenbaum (WFU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
6. Liam Oved (PEPP) def. Sankavi Gownder (WFU) 6-4, 6-1
 
Order of finish: 6, 3, 5, 2*
 
Doubles
1. #64 Krystal Blanch/Makayla Mills (WFU) def. Liam Oved/Sebastianna Scilipoti (PEPP) 6-4
2. Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum (WFU) def. Alexia Harmon/Anastasiia Grechkina (PEPP) 7-6 (7-3)
3. Duru Söke/Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Anna Zhang/Whitley Pate (WFU) 6-3
 
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2*