It was the Texas State Play Day, but two Texans made it their own play days with big performances in Tarleton's second tournament of the season.
Martha Makantasi had an impressive season debut, going 5-1 in her six matches overall in San Marcos, Texas, on Sunday-Monday. In her three singles matches, Makantasi went a perfect 3-0, with a first round win over UTRGV's Marjorie Souza 4-6 6-4 [10-4], a second round win over Texas State's Rishona Lewis 7-6(8) 6-4, and a third round win over Stephen F. Austin's Paula Cerda 6-2 7-5. She finished 2-1 in her three doubles matches with
Jemi Aguilar.
This was Makantasi's first action of the season following an impressive 2020 campaign in which she was All-WAC Second Team Singles and All-WAC Second Team Doubles. She won WAC Player of the Week three times, leading the team with a 16-2 singles record, primarily (15-2) in the No. 3 flight.
Anna Davidson, who is new to the Texans this season, had a strong performance in her second tournament with Tarleton, going 2-1 in her singles matches, splitting her doubles matches 1-1. Davidson fell in her first match 6-4 3-6 [9-11] to Texas State's Renata Gonzalez, but rebounded with wins over Texas State's Kylee Shannon 7-6(1) 4-6 [10-7] and Texas State's Toby Lewis 6-4 6-1. Davidson played her doubles matches with
Rose Watanabe, splitting the two matches played on Monday.
Aguilar, a senior, made her season debut going 2-1 in doubles with Makantasi and winning her first singles match of the year over UTRGV's Lea Karren 4-6 7-5 [10-5].
Faustine Palatte and
Elsa Boisson also were victors in a singles match, with Palatte winning 6-1 7-6(4) over Texas State's Kylee Shannon, and Boisson taking it 6-1 6-1 over UTRGV's Alicia Thal. The pair also played together in their doubles matches, winning their second rounder 6-0.
Natalia Komar,
Celia Vaudiau and
Hadley Jones rounded out the group for the Texans in the Texas State Play Day. Komar and Vaudiau were together in the doubles matches, winning their third round match 6-3.
Next up for Tarleton is Regionals, hosted by TCU in Fort Worth at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. That will be a five-day event, beginning Thursday, Oct. 14, ending on Monday, Oct. 18.
