STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Tennis will begin March with three straight matches in Stephenville, starting Friday at 1 p.m. against Prairie View A&M.
 
The Texans are a perfect 3-0 at home this year and 18-3 (.857) in Stephenville over the past three seasons. They're 7-1 overall coming off of their first loss of the year. With a win on Friday, the Texans would avoid consecutive losses, an occurrence that hasn't happened in over 400 days, when Tarleton State dropped their first two of 2022-23 against No. 4 Oklahoma and Missouri.
 
Tarleton State and Prairie View A&M haven't matched up in 14 years, last squaring off in 2010. The Texans swept that meeting 9-0.
 
Looking at this year's Panthers' squad, they've started the year 2-12 (1-1 SWAC), with wins against Bethune Cookman and Mississippi Valley State. Prairie View A&M has already played two other WAC programs, just losing 4-2 against Stephen F. Austin and falling 7-0 at UT Arlington in January. They're 0-8 on the road this year.
 
The Texans will aim to get back on track after a rare loss. Altogether, the Texans sport a 19-5 (.792) doubles record when looking at pair results, and they're 35-13 (.729) in singles play. Noelia Lorca remains perfect on the year in singles at 8-0, all at the No. 5 position. Martha Makantasi is 7-1 at No. 3, Elsa Boisson is 6-2 at No. 2, Clara Sobius is 5-3 at No. 4, Maretha Burger is 5-3 at No. 6, and Emma Persson is 4-4 at No. 1.
 
In doubles, Persson and Lorca are a perfect 6-0 together, all at No. 3. Tarleton's top pair, Burger and Makantasi, are 7-1 at No. 1.
 
Tarleton State's three-match homestand also includes UTSA on March 9 at 12 p.m. and North Texas on March 19 at 3 p.m. Of the Texans' 10 remaining regular season matches, seven will be played in Stephenville.
 
Admission is free Friday, and for all Tarleton home matches this season. For those unable to attend in-person, there will be live streaming found here, while live scoring can be found here.