ARLINGTON, Texas – Tarleton State and UT Arlington have been two of the best programs in the WAC since joining the conference. They'll battle against each other Sunday in Arlington.
The match is set for 11 a.m. at the UTA Tennis Center, close to the site of last season's WAC Tournament, in which Tarleton State nearly pulled off the title. In that conference tournament, the Texans rolled 7-seed Seattle U 4-1 in the opening round, then 6-seed New Mexico State 4-1 in the semifinals, before the closest match you'll ever see went in favor of 4-seed Grand Canyon 4-3. The 1-seed UTA fell to GCU in the other semifinals match that weekend.
The UTA Tennis Center is located at 909 Greek Row Dr. Arlington, TX 76013.
As for Sunday's match, the Texans enter at 10-2 overall and 5-1 on the road. They are 1-1 through a three-match week, and have started 1-0 in conference play. The Mavericks are 10-5 overall and 6-3 at home. They lost their conference opener Friday at home 4-3 to Abilene Christian.
Earlier this week, the Texans lost their first home match in a calendar year, falling to North Texas on Tuesday, March 19. Before that, Tarleton's previous home loss was to UT Arlington on March 19, 2023, as the Mavericks won 6-1. The Mavs have won both meetings since Tarleton joined the NCAA Division I ranks, winning 4-0 in Arlington on Feb. 6, 2021.
UTA is 48-21 (.696) across all singles matches in dual match play this season, and 24-14 (.632) in doubles matches. The Texans are 49-23 (.681) in singles matches and 26-9 (.743) in doubles matches.
The Texans just dominated UTRGV once again on Friday, winning 6-1. They took the doubles point for the 11th time in 12 matches this season, then cruised through singles, with the only loss coming on the top court.
Noelia Lorca improved her best singles record on the team to 11-1,
Martha Makantasi improved to 10-2, and both
Elsa Boisson and
Clara Sobius improved to 8-4. In doubles, Tarleton's top pair of Makantasi and
Maretha Burger suffered a rare loss, but Boisson with
Ximena Morales, plus
Emma Persson and Lorca got it done on Courts 2-3 to pick up the point. Persson and Lorca are 8-1 together, while Burger and Makantasi are 9-3.
UTA's best singles record is held by Mariana Manyoma-Velasquez at 12-1, primarily at No. 3 where she's 6-0. In doubles, the Maverick duo of Bruna Casasampere and Francisca Vergara have the best mark at 10-3, all on Court 2.
The Texans and Mavericks have shared six common opponents this season. UTA is 6-0 against those opponents, and Tarleton is 5-1, with the one loss coming against North Texas.
Sunday's match is free for fans to attend. The Texans will live stream it, found
here, and they will have live scoring available, found
here.
