SEATTLE – Tarleton Tennis has had yet another impressive season, especially in conference play, and they can cap it off this week with a possible WAC title in store with just two regular season matches remaining.
The 13-6 (5-2 WAC) Texans will play at Seattle U on Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT before their regular season finale Sunday at Utah Tech at 10:30 a.m. CT. At 5-2 in conference matches, the Texans are second in the WAC standings, just a match behind UT Arlington. The Lady Mavericks are 6-1 in WAC play.
The Texans went 2-0 last week in their finale home slate, both 4-3 wins over Grand Canyon and New Mexico State. Last Thursday,
Celia Vaudiau won the winner-take-all singles match with the team score tied 3-3 to give Tarleton the win. On Saturday,
Elsa Boisson clinched with her fifth straight singles win, boosting her to WAC Singles Player of the Week honors.
Now Tarleton heads west, first to take on the 4-8 (2-3 WAC) Redhawks. Seattle U had their last two matches canceled due to weather, scheduled for at Stephen F. Austin and at Sam Houston. Their last match played came on April 2, when they dealt the Lady Mavericks their lone conference loss with a 4-3 home victory.
As a group this year, Seattle U is 26-46 in singles matches and 12-22 in doubles play.
Elena Kraleva leads Seattle U in the No. 1 spot, where she's 7-5 this year. Liliya Dimova (8-4) has typically played at the No. 2 position.
For the Trailblazers, who the Texans play on Sunday, they've lost six straight matches, are 0-7 in WAC play, and are 2-17 overall, with both wins coming against Eastern Arizona. In three of their seven conference matches, they've been shut out.
Dating back to last season, Utah Tech is 4-34 overall and 0-11 in WAC matches.
Tarleton's top-three lineup has stayed the same for the majority of the year, with
Emma Persson No. 1,
Martha Makantasi No. 2, and Boisson No. 3. The other three positions have featured
Clara Sobius (13-6), Vaudiau (6-4),
Elif Albayrak (4-3) and
Ximena Morales (6-10).
Boisson leads the team with a 13-4 singles record, including a 6-1 mark against WAC foes. Persson (13-5) and Sobius are also tied with her for the most singles wins.
Both Tarleton matches this week will be live streamed and have live scoring.
After Sunday, seedings for the WAC Women's Tennis Tournament will be set, scheduled for April 27-29 in Arlington at UTA Tennis Center. This is the first D1 conference tournament the Tarleton Tennis team has been eligible for since reclassifying to NCAA Division I.
