Tarleton Tennis sweeps Southwestern in home opener, off to best start in 5 years

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STEPHENVILLE – The vibes are high in Stephenville right now regarding the 2022 Tarleton tennis team.

The Texans are off to their best start through six games since 2016-17 following their 7-0 sweep of Southwestern in their home opener on Tuesday night at the Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts. Southwestern dropped to 0-3.

This was Tarleton’s third straight win and second sweep of the season. Their two losses were both on the road against top-20 ranked Power Five programs in the first week of the spring slate. Tuesday’s match was the Texans’ first since Jan. 29, with four postponed or canceled matches in-between.

Deniza Marcinkevica and Jemi Aguilar kept their dominant doubles pairing going to start the match in front of a nice crowd in Stephenville, beating Alli Ziehm and Emma Kesterson 6-3. Tarleton’s top pair remains undefeated at 4-0. Also in doubles, Celia Vaudiau and Faustine Palatte won 6-4 against Nina Mitrofanova and Lydia Lee in the No. 2 position. In the No. 3 slot, Elsa Boisson and Martha Makantasi won 6-2 over Lauren Chisholm and Taylor Despriet.

Makantasi had the biggest blowout of the night, a clean sweep of her own to match her team’s eventual destiny. She took down Lee 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 3 position, improving to 4-2 on the year in the same spot. Boisson improved to 4-2 at No. 4 with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Sydney Wahl. Vaudiau maintained the best singles record on the Texans (4-1) with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Ziehm. Also winning in straight sets was Natalia Komar over Chisholm 7-6(2), 6-1 in the No. 6 slot. That was Komar’s first singles win as a member of the purple and white.

The top two singles matches of the night competitive wise matched their positions. At No. 1, Marcinkevica fell behind early to Mitrofanova before turning it on and dominating the next two sets for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win. Marcinkevica is now 4-2 in singles and 4-0 in doubles in her first year with the Texans, every match played at the lead spot. At No. 2, Aguilar had the toughest start possible, not only dealing with back tightness, but dropping the first set 0-6. She gave everything she had to rally past Despriet 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the final Tarleton win of the night to complete the sweep.

This was just the first of four home matches this week in Stephenville. Next up for Tarleton is a doubleheader at the Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts on Friday, against Montana State at 1 p.m. CT and then a bout with UTPB at 4 p.m. CT. On Sunday, they’ll play their first conference match of the year against UTRGV at 10 a.m. CT.

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