STEPHENVILLE, Texas – March 19 is an unpopular date surrounding the Tarleton Tennis program. Entering Tuesday, the Texans had last lost at home on March 19, 2023. On March 19, 2024, they fell at home to North Texas 6-1, spoiling their perfect run in Stephenville.
The Texans (9-2) played their final non-conference match of the season on Tuesday, hosting the Mean Green (9-8) for the two programs' first meeting in 13 years. The Texans dropped to 5-1 at home and UNT snapped a three-match losing streak overall.
Tarleton State lost their first doubles point in 11 matches to start this one. UNT's Stadfany Nformi and Olivia Halvorsen began with a 6-2 win on Court 3 over
Noelia Lorca and
Emma Persson. North Texas then clinched the doubles point on the top court as Olivia Malm and Stansilava Shulzhenk defeated
Martha Makantasi and
Maretha Burger 6-4. The match on Court 2 between Tarleton's
Elsa Boisson and
Ximena Morales and North Texas' Lilly Schultz and Lou Chalard went unfinished when it was tied 4-4.
The loss for Lorca and Persson was the first for the duo, who won their first seven matches together. Burger and Makantasi had a three-match winning streak snapped, dropping to 9-2 as a duo on the top court.
The Mean Green clinched the team victory after the first three singles results. First, Malm defeated Persson 6-4 6-1 at No. 1, then Nformi beat Boisson 6-3 6-3 at No. 2, followed by a Schultz victory over Morales on Court 5 6-3 6-3.
Tarleton got on the board at No. 6, as
Clara Sobius defeated Marina Adati 6-4 6-4 1-0(10-7) to improve to 7-4 in singles on the year.
North Texas took the last two singles matches for the 6-1 victory, as Shulzhenk defeated Makantasi 7-5 4-6 1-0(10-8) at No. 3, and Chalard won 7-6(2) 7-5 over Lorca at No. 4.
The Texans went 2-1 on their three-match homestand. They will have two more matches this week, both on the road. They'll play at UTRGV next on Friday at 10 a.m. in Edinburg, Texas, to start Western Athletic Conference play.
