Complete Results | Postgame

THE RUNDOWN
ATHENS, Ga. -- The 40th-ranked Baylor women's tennis team upset No. 26 Wake Forest, 4-2, in the opening round of the NCAA Championships Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

The victory propelled BU (18-14) in to the second round of the national event for a 12th-straight season and the 14th-time overall.

Holding a 3-2 advantage over the Demon Deacons (19-10), freshman Elizabeth Profit provided the clinching point with a triumph at the No. 5 singles position.

Profit jumped out to an early lead in the match with a 6-4 first-set victory over Samantha Asch, but then she was shutout out in the second set 6-0 to send the match to a deciding third set.

In that third set with the score tied 4-4, Profit held and then broke Asch to claim the match, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, to send the Bears into the second round.

Baylor had opened the match by winning the doubles point. However, it took a comeback from BU to snag the opening point. The 20th-ranked duo of Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette were upset by 62nd-ranked Kimmy Guerin and Anna Ulyashchenko, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot.

Elizabeth Profit and Theresa Van Zyl tied up the doubles point at match apiece with a 6-4 triumph over Luisa Fernandez and Andrea Retolaza on court three.

Rhiann Newborn and Karina Traxler were tied 4-4 with Emma Davis and Sam Asch at the No. 2 position when all the attention turned to that court. The BU duo prompted carded a break and then Newborn served it out for the 6-4 victory and the doubles point.

In singles action, Van Zyl raced past Fernandez, 6-2, 6-1, at the bottom of the lineup to stake the Bears to a 2-0 lead.

At that point, Wake Forest got back into the match with Newborn's 6-2, 6-4 setback to Ulyashchenko on court three and Generette's 6-2, 7-5 loss against 111th-ranked Davis at the No. 2 spot.

The 91st-ranked Shankle tipped the momentum back in BU's direction by capturing a 7-6(5), 6-1 upset at the top of the lineup over No. 64 Guerin. The BU junior had led the opening set 5-2, before falling down 5-6 and then forcing a tiebreaker, which she eventually claimed. That win put the Bears up 3-2 and set the stage for Profit's heroics.

While Profit was winning the match, Traxler was battling Jonna Zalewskiat at the No. 4 spot and though that match went unfinished, the BU freshman was leading, 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-3.

NOTABLES
- Baylor is 14-5 in the first round of NCAA play all-time and 12-1 under head coach Joey Scrivano.
- Baylor advanced to the NCAA second round for the 12th-straight season and the 14th-time overall.
- Baylor is 33-18 all-time in NCAA action and 30-12 under Scrivano.
- BU is now 2-1 all-time against first-round opponent Wake Forest.
- Theresa Van Zyl has won eight of her last nine decisions.

TOP QUOTE #1
"Great win. I'm just proud of our ladies. They just competed hard. We knew the difference between winning and losing was going to be very small, and I'm just proud of our toughness. We just found a way to win today. There was just a ton of toughness everywhere, on every court. I felt like we really competed at every position. To beat a (top-26) team in the NCAA tournament -- you're not going to beat them easily. Everything's going to be difficult and challenging, and I'm just proud of our players just stepping up to the challenge. They wanted it today, and we just need to keep doing that." --head coach Joey Scrivano on the team's win over Wake Forest

TOP QUOTE #2
"We talked a lot about what it takes to win big matches, and it takes an incredible amount of focus, and thankfully both Karina (Traxler) and Elizabeth just embraced that and just did a fantastic job. Obviously, Elizabeth got the job done, but Karina put herself in a position to win. We're going to need to keep doing that." --Scrivano on the exciting finish

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will now play in the second round of the NCAA Championships against No. 5 Georgia at 3 p.m. CT Saturday in Athens, Ga.

To stay up to date with the team all season follow @BaylorWTennis on Twitter.

By Cody Soto
Baylor Bear Foundation

ATHENS, Ga. -- Focus and energy were two big concepts Baylor women's tennis head coach Joey Scrivano emphasized to his team before Friday's NCAA first-round match against 26th-ranked Wake Forest.

And it paid off.

Baylor took a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the Demon Deacons at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. to earn a second-round spot against fifth-seeded and host Georgia at 3 p.m. CDT Saturday. It took a lot to get there, though.

The Bears (18-14) had a small margin for error, Scrivano said.

"We knew the difference between winning and losing was going to be very small, and I'm just proud of our toughness," he said. "We just found a way to win today. There was just a ton of toughness everywhere, on every court. I felt like we really competed at every position."

Wake Forest finished its best season since 2002 at 19-10 with two singles victories over veteran BU players, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early deficit from losing the doubles point.

"We came out and showed a little bit of youth in the doubles. They took full advantage of that, as a more experienced team should be able to do," Wake Forest coach Jeff Wyshner said. "It's our first time in the NCAA's in seven years and we don't have a senior in our starting six spots. We would have liked to get this one, but you have to credit Baylor because they did a great job."

However, it was the Baylor underclassmen that struck first in doubles play. Fighting back from an early 3-1 deficit, sophomore Theresa Van Zyl and freshman Elizabeth Profit rolled to a 6-4 win over Luisa Fernandez and Andrea Retolaza at the No. 3 spot.

Wake Forest would quickly respond as the 62nd-ranked pair of Kimmy Guerin and Anna Ulyashchenko took a 6-3 victory over No. 20 Kiah Generette and Blair Shankle at the top spot to tie up doubles.

It all came down to court two, tied 4-4 and Wake Forest back to serve. On a double fault, Baylor's Rhiann Newborn and Karina Traxler got the break and served out a 6-4 win for the early 1-0 lead.

Van Zyl followed up the doubles point with her own 6-2, 6-1 singles win at the bottom of the lineup for the 2-0 lead, but Wake Forest would respond with two points of its own.

Newborn dropped a 6-2, 6-4 decision to Ulyashchenko at the No. 3 position, followed quickly by Generette's 6-2, 7-5 loss to No. 111 Emma Davis on court two to tie up the match at 2-2.

Seeing the margins slimming, 91st-ranked Shankle powered through her second set and downed No. 64 Guerin 7-6(5), 6-1 at the top of the lineup to give Baylor the 3-2 advantage. In a match this tight, one point can really affect the remaining matches, Shankle said.

"For me, I really wanted to finish in straight sets for the team, just to try and give them a little more of a boost," she said. "When we have another point on the board, that's big. I just tried to do it as fast as I could, but I'm just glad to get that done in two sets."

Shankle's finish allowed her to cheer on her teammates to help BU clinch the match. It was a huge moment for both of the freshmen, she said.

"I know I've been in that situation before and know what keeps you going and what keeps you energy and level up, and it's all the support and cheering from your teammates," Shankle said. "You know you want it bad, but you want it that much more for your team."

The final two matches were on courts four and five on the south end of the complex, and more importantly featured two BU freshmen. Traxler forced a decisive third set withr a critical 7-6(4) second-set victory while Profit looked to get back into her match after dropping set two, 6-0.

Profit overcame an early third-set deficit to break Samantha Asch at the No. 5 spot and clinch the final point with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 victory.

"She's been dealt a pretty tough hand this year with injuries, but she's been doing an unbelievable job," Shankle said. "When (Elizabeth) comes in and plays, she gives it her all and that's all you can really ask for. She's performed unbelievably well, and I'm so proud of her."

Prior to the match's suspension, Traxler led 4-3 in the third set at No. 4.

"We talked a lot about what it takes to win big matches, and it takes an incredible amount of focus, and thankfully both Karina and Elizabeth just embraced that and just did a fantastic job," Scrivano said.

"Everything's going to be difficult and challenging, and I'm just proud of our players just stepping up to the challenge. They wanted it today, and we just need to keep doing that."

The Bears will now face another tall task in the second round - the 5th-seeded and host Bulldogs - for a spot in the NCAA Round of 16 in Tulsa next week. Georgia (21-4) advanced with a 4-0 shutout of North Florida in Friday's other first-round matchup.