STEPHENVILLE – There was a show before the match as Tarleton State hosted a ribbon-cutting to unveil the new Tarleton Tennis Facility, and when the match started, the Texans put on a show of their own.
Tarleton State (12-2, 3-0 WAC) thrashed Utah Tech (5-11, 0-3 WAC) on Thursday 6-1, starting “Won-and-0” at the new home for Tarleton Tennis. The Texans improved to 6-1 in Stephenville on the season. Their 12-2 overall record is their best mark at this juncture since 2005, and the Texans are now just one of two undefeated teams remaining in the Western Athletic Conference.
“Today was a very special day for our program, the new facility will allow us to continue to attract top notch talent from around the world,” said head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron. “I am grateful for Dr. Megan O’Quin, Vice President [Lonn] Reisman and President [Dr. James] Hurley for their vision and their leadership in making this facility a reality. Investments like these in women’s sports programs pave the way for the growth and success of our women athletes on and off the court. It helps us to produce confident, gritty, resilient people who give back to the community.
“I am proud of this team for how they competed today,” Douglas-Miron continued. “They represent the Purple and White with pride and will continue to do so as we finish up our WAC slate.”
The Texans began the special match in front of a great crowd, and rolled through doubles action by winning on all three courts. Emma Persson and Noelia Lorca earned the first doubles victory on the new courts with a 6-2 win over Olivia Bustos and Adithi Venkatakrishn on Court 3. Nearly at the same time, Ximena Morales and Elsa Boisson won on Court 2 6-3 over Ana Gutierrez Sampere and Ya-Chi Hsu. Tarleton’s Martha Makantasi and Maretha Burger completed the doubles sweep with a 7-6(5) win against Rachel Mellor and Mariana Zurita.
Tarleton State has now won the doubles point in 12 of 14 matches this season. They are a combined 30-11 (.732) in doubles matches. Persson and Lorca are now 10-1, Burger and Makantasi are 10-4, and Boisson with Morales are 3-1.
In singles, there were two matches that ended prematurely, one for each team. First, Persson retired on Court 1, giving Venkatakrishn the win as she led 4-1 in the first set. Then Utah Tech’s Sampere retired in between sets. Boisson won the first set 6-0 and improved to 10-4 with the overall victory.
Tarleton’s Adeliya Mukhutdinova won in straight sets on Court 6 to improve to 3-2, beating Bustos 6-2 6-1.
The senior Makantasi then clinched the Texan team victory with a 6-1 7-5 win over Zurita on Court 3. Makantasi’s singles mark matches the team’s record this year at 12-2.
Clara Sobius won her third straight match, defeating Hsu 6-3 7-5 on Court 5. Sobius is 9-4 this season.
Lorca concluded the 6-1 team victory with a 7-6(8-6) 2-6 1-0(10-5) win over Mellor on Court 4. Lorca owns a team-best singles record of 13-1.
The Texans will be right back at the Tarleton Tennis Facility on Saturday for a 10 a.m. match against Seattle U. The Redhawks are 2-1 in conference play and 7-6 overall.
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