STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State Tennis freshman Maria Castano earned WAC Freshman of the Year and four other Texans received All-WAC honors, the conference announced Thursday.
Castano, who was also named All-WAC First Team, led the Texans in singles (15) and doubles wins (13) in 2025. She is the second freshman in the last two years to clinch the conference’s Freshman of the Year award (Emma Persson, 2023).
Senior Noelia Lorca and junior Adeliya Mukhutdinova were named All-WAC Second Team. Senior Maretha Burger and junior Emma Persson also earned All-WAC Second Team honors as a doubles duo.
“I’m happy for all of our deserving postseason award recipients. We had another great season and these WAC awards show the hard work and dedication the girls have displayed all year long,” head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron said. “I’m ecstatic that Maria has been named WAC Freshman of the Year. She performed at a high-level all year long and showed tremendous poise for a freshman. I’m happy that Noelia and Maretha get to end their careers with All-WAC honors and thrilled that Emma and Adeliya have that recognition going into their senior year. These are great honors to recognize the success of 2025 and give us something to build on in 2026.”
Castano collected six bagels (6-0 sets) in 2025, including one to clinch the match against eventual WAC champion GCU. She obtained her final bagel of the season at the WAC Tournament to clinch a straight sets win on Court 5 against UT Arlington. She was the only Texan to be named to the 2025 WAC All-Tournament Team.
The Dominican Republic native became the first Tarleton State freshman in the Division I Era to win her first six singles matches and defeat a Power 4 opponent (at Houston, Feb. 2). Castano was also a recipient of the university’s Freshman Leadership Award.
Lorca received All-WAC Second Team honors for the second consecutive year. She captured the first-ever WAC Tennis Invitational singles championship this fall, earning an automatic bid to the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, Georgia. Lorca was named WAC Singles Player of the Week on March 4 and was a three-time WAC Doubles Player of the Week winner, finishing 2025 with 12 doubles wins and eight singles wins.
Mukhutdinova posted a 13-5 singles record in 2025, coming up with six bagels (6-0) sets and a double bagel on Jan. 25. She is the first Texan to bagel a Power 4 opponent since 2023 (April 6 at #63 SMU) and was named September WAC Singles Player of the Month in 2024.
Burger/Persson co-led the Texans’ doubles teams with 10 wins and had a 10-3 mark on the season. The doubles duo were four-time WAC Doubles Team of the Week honorees in 2025, helping Tarleton State clinch the doubles point in 70% of the matches they played in.
Under Douglas-Miron in five years at the Division I level, Tarleton State has won the WAC Coach of the Year award, the WAC Player of the Year award, the WAC Freshman of the Year award twice, and 18 All-Conference honors (eight Singles All-WAC First Team, one Doubles All-WAC First Team, seven Singles All-WAC Second Team, two Doubles All-WAC Second Team). The Texans have also earned 47 midseason monthly or weekly awards (four Singles Player of the Month, one Doubles Team of the Month, 20 Singles Player of the Week, and 22 Doubles Team of the Week).
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