Coming off of a WAC regular season title this past season, the Texans are going to get everyone's best shot in 2023, but they'll start dual match season as the underdog.
 
Tarleton opens the spring with a doubleheader in Norman, Oklahoma, against the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners and the Missouri Tigers. The Sooners were the national runners-up last year, advancing to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship, where they fell 4-1 to Texas. In this year's ITA Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll, the Sooners are ranked fourth, only behind Texas, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
 
Of course it will be tough sledding going against two Power Five conference programs, but Tarleton has shown it can hang with elite programs. Just this past Saturday in a tune-up for the regular season at the TCU Invitational, Tarleton won several matches over some of the top players from TCU, Texas Tech, SMU and Central Arkansas.
 
Also, Tarleton went 16-4 against fellow D1 opponents last year.
 
Tarleton, who ended last season with seven straight match wins, have three returners from last season's memorable run – senior Celia Vaudiau, junior Martha Makantasi and junior Elsa Boisson. Not to mention, the reigning WAC Coach of the Year Elianne Douglas-Miron is still at the helm for the Texans for her fourth season.
 
Makantasi will likely play near the top of the lineup, as she played all 21 singles matches in the first three flights last year, going 17-4. She was named Singles All-WAC First Team for her efforts, and has shown even more progress through the fall. Just this past weekend, Makantasi defeated Texas Tech's Avelina Sayfetdinova in the first flight 6-4 7-6 (7-1). The Red Raider played in the No. 3 spot for Texas Tech all of last season and went 11-8.
 
Vaudiau, Tarleton's lone senior, has been Singles All-WAC First Team two years running. The Texan had the most singles wins in the conference by a wide margin last year, going 20-1 (1-0 at No. 3, 2-0 at No. 4, 17-1 at No. 5), finishing with 20 straight match wins. Her only loss came in College Station against the No. 6 team in the nation, Texas A&M. This fall, she already took home a WAC Singles Player of the Month award after going 5-0 in singles play in October.
 
Also certainly to be featured will be Boisson, who was Singles All-WAC Second Team after going 13-8 (1-0 at No. 2, 1-0 at No. 3, 11-8 at No. 4).
 
Otherwise, it will be new faces for the Texans, who round out the nine-woman roster with five freshmen and a redshirt sophomore.
 
Emma Persson has played near the top of the singles flights in the fall and has impressed early. This past weekend she took down TCU's Helena Narmont 6-4 5-7 [10-8]. Earlier this year, she was WAC Singles Player of the Month for September after going on a Sweet 16 singles main draw run at the ITA Texas Regional Championship. In a tournament that included all of the top programs across Texas, she defeated North Texas' Matilde Morais 6-4 3-6 [13-11] and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Sofia Pinto 7-6(4) 4-6 [11-9] to advance to the Sweet 16, before ultimately losing to SMU's Jackie Nylander.
 
Tarleton's other newcomers are Elif Albayrak, Ximena Morales, Audrey Pacheco, Laure Razet and Clara Sobius. Each has performed well in the fall with highlights in separate events. This past weekend, Albayrak defeated Texas Tech's Camryn Stepp 7-5 6-4. Morales, along with Boisson, was part of the October Doubles Team of the Month after going 4-0 as a pair in the month. Sobius won her singles draw at the UIW Cardinal Classic in late October.
 
Looking at Tarleton's opponents Saturday, Oklahoma is returning seniors Ivana Corley and Alexandra Pisareva, Carmen Corley and Layne Sleeth, junior Dana Guzman and sophomore Emma Staker. The team added newcomers Romana Cisovska, from Slovakia, and Julia Garcia Ruiz, from Morelia, Mexico.

Audra Cohen, Oklahoma's coach, returns for her seventh season after winning national and conference Coach of the Year honors.
 
For Missouri, the Tigers played six dual matches in the fall and swept every point to go 6-0. Newcomers to watch out for are Inah and Mae Canete, sisters who played last season at Central Oklahoma. Mae Canete was a D2 All-American and ranked No. 3 in the ITA Singles after posting a 22-2 record. Inah Canete was also a D2 All-American and finished her freshman season ranked No. 8 in the ITA Singles Top 25.
 
Both matches will be livestreamed on Saturday, which can be accessed here. Live stats for the Oklahoma match can be found here, and live stats for the Missouri match can be found here.