TULSA, Okla. – Friday night's match started even later than it was supposed to between Tarleton and Oral Roberts, but the Texans apparently just wanted to extend the dramatics.
After trailing 2-0 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Philcrest Hills Tennis Club, Tarleton won four of the last five singles matches for a come-from-behind 4-3 win.
The Texans (2-2, 0-0 WAC) won their second straight match and their first road match of the season to improve back to .500. Oral Roberts (0-2, 0-0 Summit) lost their home opener.
It was a wild week of weather in Texas that virtually left Tarleton unable to practice heading into Friday's match. Also, due to needing to play indoors in Tulsa, the match moved from 3 p.m. CT, and eventually began at 8:15 p.m. CT. There were a lot of obstacles that Tarleton had to get over, and get over them they did.
Oral Roberts took the doubles point to start, with the Golden Eagles' top pair of Luna Morini and Chara Grammatikaki defeating Tarleton's
Martha Makantasi and
Elsa Boisson 6-3. On Court 3,
Ximena Morales and
Laure Razet evened the doubles score with a 6-4 win over Arina Sorokina and Zere Iskakova. In the No. 2 match, ORU drew first blood, as Sasha Lebedeva and Reagan Miley beat
Celia Vaudiau and
Emma Persson 6-3.
To start the singles matches, something happened that Tarleton hasn't seen in a lifetime. Vaudiau lost her first singles match since Jan. 16, 2022, breaking a 21-match winning streak. Oral Roberts' Morini played spoiler at Court 4, defeating Vaudiau 6-1 6-0.
With Tarleton down 2-0, they needed to win four of the last five singles matches to take the team win. Boisson got the first point for Tarleton at Court 3 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Miley. She has back-to-back wins, now 2-1 in singles action.
Persson followed with a win at Court 2, beating Grammatikaki 7-6(5) 6-4. Persson is also 2-1 on the season to start her Tarleton career.
Oral Roberts retook the lead at Court 5, as Sorokina defeated Morales 7-6(4) 6-1.
Makantasi, the reigning WAC Singles Player of the Week, kept Tarleton in it in the top flight, beating Lebedeva 7-5 6-4, improving to 2-1 this season.
Clara Sobius, in her first action of the day, clinched the win for Tarleton in the No. 6 position by shutting out her opponent, Iskakova, 6-0 6-0. Sobius is now 2-2 on the year.
Tarleton will continue their five-match February road trip at UTSA next, scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. CT in San Antonio at UTSA Tennis Center. The Roadrunners are also 2-2, and they have two other matches before playing the Texans, at Lamar and at Sam Houston.
