ABILENE, Texas – Although Tarleton had already clinched the WAC regular season title ahead of their season finale at Abilene Christian last year, it still provided all of the dramatics one could imagine from the intense I-20 rivalry.
 
In a wild top flight match between Tarleton's Deniza Marcinkevica and ACU's Maryjoe Crisologo, the Texan capped off her team's perfect conference campaign at 5-0, 10-0 overall against WAC teams, with a 4-3 team win.
 
This coming Saturday, the Texans and Wildcats will clash back at Eager Tennis Pavilion in Abilene at noon.
 
Tarleton has won four of their last five matches and sit at 3-1 in WAC play this season, coming off of an east Texas sweep at Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. This is the final leg of a three-game road trip for the purple and white before their final two home matches of the year next week.
 
Year-over-year from that epic match 90 miles down the road, just three active Texans were a part of that team; Martha Makantasi, Elsa Boisson and Celia Vaudiau. The Texans have five freshmen and six underclassmen total on this year's roster, but they haven't missed a beat, sitting at 11-5 overall, 11-3 since their opening set in Norman, Oklahoma.
 
Just one team is above the Texans in the WAC standings right now, with UT Arlington holding a spotless 4-0 mark. Abilene Christian is 1-3 in WAC play this year, 7-11 overall.
 
This past weekend, the Texans changed up their doubles pairings, slotting Makantasi and Boisson in the top flight again. They're 6-2 as a pair this season, all at the No. 1 position. Moving up to No. 2 was Elif Albayrak and Ximena Morales, who still have not lost in doubles together, now 5-0.
 
In singles, Emma Persson has firmly become the No. 1 player, although she suffered a rare loss on Sunday. It marked just her second loss in her last 14 matches, and she's now 12-3 overall, 6-2 at No. 1.
 
All other five Texans who played in singles on Sunday are coming off of a win. Boisson has the second best winning percentage on the team at .714, spotting a 10-4 record overall, 7-3 at No. 3. Clara Sobius is right behind her at 11-5 overall, 9-1 over her last 10 matches.
 
On the other side, ACU has lost the doubles point in five of their last matches, which has coincided with their record during that span. Their lone win came at Sam Houston, a 6-1 victory just like Tarleton's in Huntsville. The Texans and Wildcats have shared the same four WAC opponents thus far, although ACU is 1-3 while Tarleton is 3-1.
 
ACU's Eva Arranz owns the best singles mark on the team at 7-2, all matches played on Courts 5-6. On Court 1, the Wildcats have a combined 5-11 record. In doubles matches they're 15-24 overall, 4-9 in the top flight.
 
Saturday's match will be live streamed and have live scoring. The stream can be watched at www.tarletonsports.com/watchtennis. Live scoring can be found here.