Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NORMAN, Okla. – After such an impressive season last year, it's very unsettling to see Tarleton Tennis on the losing side of a match. Of course, when the Texans had signed on to play the national runners-up from a season before, Tarleton's incredible run would have been near impossible to keep going immediately entering 2023.
Tarleton (0-2, 0-0 WAC) dropped both of their season-opening matches Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma, 4-0 to the No. 4 Sooners (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) and 4-0 to the Missouri Tigers (1-1, 0-0 SEC).
Tarleton had their seven-match winning streak snapped that they ended last season with.
In the first match against Oklahoma, the Sooners started with the doubles point with 6-2 wins by Julia Garcia Ruiz-Dana Guzman over
Emma Persson-
Ximena Morales at No. 2 and Romana Cisovska-Emma Staker over
Celia Vaudiau-
Clara Sobius at No. 3.
Martha Makantasi's and
Elsa Boisson's match at the first flight went unfinished tied 4-4 against No. 22 Alexandra Pisareva-Layne Sleeth.
Oklahoma clinched the match with singles wins in the Nos. 2, 3 and 6 flights. Sleeth defeated Persson 6-0 6-1 at No. 2, Guzman beat Boisson 6-0 6-0 at No. 3, and Cisovska won 6-2 6-1 over Sobius. The three other matches, played by Makantasi at No. 1, Vaudiau at No. 4 and Morales at No. 5 went unfinished.
Against Missouri, Tarleton's first doubles flight match once again went unfinished, with Makantasi and Morales close to victory at 5-2 over Laura Masic-Inah Canete. Missouri won the doubles point with a second flight 6-3 win by Andrea Artimedi-Gabriela Martinez over Persson and Vaudiau, plus a third flight 6-1 win by Emelie Schwarte-Mae Canete over
Laure Razet and Sobius.
The Tigers clinched the match with singles wins at flights one, four and six. Mae Canete defeated Makantasi at No. 1 6-1 6-1, Martinez beat Morales 6-0-6-1 at No. 4, and Romary Cadenas-Rifka took down Sobius 6-3 6-3 at No. 6. The other three matches went unfinished, played by Persson at No. 2, Vaudiau at No. 3, and Razet at No. 5.
Although giving the elite of the elite competition their best shot, Tarleton returns home with an 0-2 record, losing consecutive matches for the first time since 2020-21. The Texans will look to even their record back out on Saturday, Jan. 28, a home doubleheader against Cowley College and Weatherford College. Match times are set for 10 a.m. CT and 3 p.m. CT.
