#32 SMU (9-4, 3-3 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (8-8, 1-4 ACC)
Friday, March 13 • 4 p.m. CT
Dallas, Texas • Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex
ACCNX • Live Scores • SMU Mobile App
#32 SMU (9-4, 3-3 ACC) vs. #14 NC State (11-5, 4-1 ACC)
Sunday, March 15 • 12 p.m. CT
Dallas, Texas • Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex
ACCNX • Live Scores • SMU Mobile App
SETTING THE SCENE
• The No. 32-ranked SMU women's tennis team returns to the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex for two ACC home matches against Wake Forest and No. 14 NC State on Friday and Sunday.
• The Mustangs swept last weekend's ACC slate, which included wins over Boston College and Syracuse. The results moved SMU to 3-3 in the ACC, halfway through the 12-match conference schedule, and up nine spots to No. 32 in the country.
• SMU looks to win three or more consecutive ACC matches for the first time since joining the conference last season. Two wins this weekend would surpass the ACC win total (4) from last season.
ACC WEEKLY AWARD SWEEP
• The SMU women's tennis team took home all three ACC weekly awards, announced by the league office on Tuesday.
• Caroline McGinley was named ACC Player of the Week and Amelie Van Impe earned her third consecutive Freshman of the Week honor. The pair was also selected as the conference Doubles Team of the Week for the second time this season.
• It marks the second time in two seasons as a member of the ACC that SMU women's tennis has collected all three of the ACC weekly awards. It also marks the first conference Player of the Week honor for McGinley of her career.
• McGinley went 4-0 in the Mustangs' two matches on the road against Boston College and Syracuse, clinching both wins for SMU. On court three, the junior defeated Natalie Eordekian of Boston College, 6-2. 6-3, and then won 6-4, 7-5, over Syracuse's Nelly Knezkova in singles.
• In doubles, McGinley and Van Impe improved to 10-0 as a pair, with two wins over the weekend, including a ranked win over No. 57 Anastasia Sysoeva and Nelly Knezkova of Syracuse. The win gave the pair its fourth over a ranked doubles team this season.
• Van Impe won her fifth-straight decision in singles, defeating Seren Agar of Boston College 6-1, 6-0 on court one. She was one game away from a second victory against Syracuse, but the match was deemed unfinished due to the clinch by McGinley.
IN ELITE COMPANY
• Caroline McGinley and Amelie Van Impe are one of three doubles pairs that are 10-0 or better in dual match play.
Auburn: Ashton Bowers / Ekaterina Khayrutdinova 17-0 (No. 83)
Columbia: Emily Baek / Sophia Wang 12-0 (NR)
SMU: Caroline McGinley / Amelie Van Impe 10-0 (No. 10)
MAKING NATIONAL NOISE
• Wichelen, Belgium, native, Amelie Van Impe made national noise on March 1 in the Mustangs' matchup against No. 3 North Carolina with a commanding win over the then-No. 1-ranked player in the ITA, Reese Brantmeier, 6-1, 6-2. The win came after nearly defeating the No. 22–ranked player from Duke on court one two days prior, in a match that went unfinished despite her 7-5, 2-6, 5-4 lead.
• The win propelled Van Impe from unranked to No. 49 in the latest ITA singles poll.
• Van Impe has been strong since joining the Mustangs in late January. The freshman is a combined 16-1 on the season in doubles and singles, with a 5-0 record in court one and a perfect 10-0 record in doubles.
NEW NUMBERS, ITA RANKINGS
• The SMU court one doubles team of Caroline McGinley and Amelie Van Impe jumped from unranked in the ITA to No. 10 nationally this week. The duo is a perfect 10-0 this season, while Caroline McGinley is 13-0 in doubles this spring.
• Along with Van Impe's No. 49 ranking, Sophie Llewellyn is just 10 spots behind at No. 59.
• Caroline McGinley and Ellie Mireles remain ranked as a pair in doubles, despite not playing as a pair since the second weekend of the season. They come in at No. 58 this week.
THE OPPONENTS
• Wake Forest brings an 8-8 record into Friday's matchup, falling in its last outing to NC State 4-0.
• The Demon Deacons have one ACC win, which came in Winston-Salem against Florida State on March 8.
• The Demon Deacons went 15-14 in 2025, 3-9 in ACC matches. Their overall record qualified them for the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Pepperdine 4-1 in the Knoxville Regional.
• The last time the Mustangs and Demon Deacons faced off was in the first round of the 2025 ACC Tournament, where Wake Forest won 4-2 in Cary, North Carolina.
• NC State holds a strong 11-5 record with only one ACC loss thus far (4-1), which was a 4-3 loss to Miami in Raleigh last week.
• The Wolfpack went 19-7 last season and 10-2 in ACC matches. NC State reached the 2025 NCAA Championships Super Regionals, where they fell to rival North Carolina 4-2 in Chapel Hill.
• NC State has four ranked singles players, led by Lavinia Tanasie, who is ranked NO. 29 in the latest ITA list. Teh Wolfpack also has the No. 2-ranked doubles team in the country in Gabrielle Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe, along with the No. 57-ranked pair in Anna Zyryanova and Jasmien Conway. Broadfoot and Osuigwe have won six straight doubles matches and are 11-2 in the spring.
HISTORIC WIN IN WACO
• On Feb. 1, SMU collected a 4-3 win over Baylor in Waco. It marked the first win over the Bears since 1995.
• Gina Feistel clinched the winner-take-all final match of the day on court one with a 7-6(3), 0-6, 7-6(4) win over No. 40 Na Dong of Baylor.
• SMU won the doubles point for the fifth time this season and got two wins from courts five and six from Caroline McGinley and Natalie Stasny to help secure the victory.
LLEWELLYN ADVANCES IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
• In her NCAA Championship debut, Llewellyn advanced to the second round of the tournament by defeating Texas A&M's Violeta Martinez 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, before falling to eventual champion Reese Brantmeier in three sets in her next matchup.
• Llewellyn punched her ticket to the NCAA Singles Championships in November after reaching the semifinal round of the ITA Sectional Championships on Saturday.
• Llewellyn became the first Mustang to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships since Marta Lesniak did so in 2011.
• Llewellyn finished the fall season with a 10-4 record.
NEW LOOK MUSTANGS
• Coach McKenna and staff brought eight newcomers to the 2026 roster, including four true freshmen and one transfer ahead of her first season on the Hilltop.
• Llewellyn and McGinley are the only two returners to the program from the previous season.
LET THE MCKENNA ERA BEGIN
• Coach McKenna begins her tenure at SMU after serving as the head coach at Wisconsin since 2017.
• McKenna's tenure at Wisconsin was defined by a dramatic program turnaround. When she arrived in the fall of 2016, the Badgers were coming off a 4-16 season and a winless Big Ten campaign. In her second year, Wisconsin began to show progress, and by her third season in 2018-19, the team posted an 18-6 record, finished second in the Big Ten at 9-2, and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005.
• By 2023, the Badgers had achieved one of the best seasons in school history: 20 victories (first in 25 years), a No. 11 national ranking at their peak (highest since 1996), and a season-ending No. 22 ITA ranking, along with the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 2002. Under McKenna's leadership, Wisconsin evolved from the bottom of the Big Ten into a nationally respected contender, consistently competing against and defeating top 25 programs.
• Over the last three seasons, McKenna has led the Badgers to a record of 58-21, including three straight NCAA Round of 32 appearances. Last season, McKenna coached Maria Sholokhova to a 2024 Women's ITA All-American Singles Championship, becoming the program's first All-American since 1998 in 2025.
• McKenna and Sholokhova became the first coach-player duo, men's or women's, to both win the ITA All-American Singles Championship.
