STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Tennis opens its spring road slate this weekend against Prairie View A&M on Saturday and Houston on Sunday, with both matches beginning at noon.
The Texans carry a 3-0 record into the weekend following a dominant showing in last Saturday's doubleheader, defeating Lubbock Christian 6-1 and Collin College 7-0. Freshman Duru Kuscu, senior
Maretha Burger and junior
Emma Persson swept the WAC weekly honors with their strong performances. WAC Singles Player of the Week honors belonged to Kuscu, and Burger and Persson made up the WAC Doubles Team of the Week.
Head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron has led the Texans to their second consecutive 3-0 start, dating back to last spring when the team won their first seven matches.
One thing the Texans will look to keep going this weekend is big contributions from their two standout freshmen – Kuscu and Maria Castano. Both athletes are undefeated in singles this season, and they just became the first Tarleton State freshmen in the Division I Era to start their collegiate careers 3-0 in singles matches.
Neither Kuscu nor Castano lost a set in their last two matches. Against Lubbock Christian, the card saw a 7-5, 6-4 victory for Kuscu and a 6-2, 6-1 win for Castano. Neither player gave up even a single game against Collin College, turning in a double bagel victory for each. This made Kuscu and Castano the first Texan duo to have 6-0, 6-0 results in the same match since Burger and Martha Makintasi did it on March 1 of last year against Prairie View A&M.
Junior Ximena Morales heads into the weekend fresh off her first two singles wins of the season, both in straight sets (6-0, 6-4; 6-2, 6-1). The Guatemalan junior owned the second-highest winning percentage on the team in doubles a season ago (.750), standing only behind Persson, the 2023 WAC Player of the Year. Persson will look to defend her weekly honors for doubles where she earned a pair of 6-2 wins alongside Burger.
Prairie View A&M will host Tarleton State looking for its first win of the season and are currently 0-6 on the year. The Texans won last year's meeting 6-1 at the Tarleton Tennis Facility.
Houston will be the first Big 12 opponent Tarleton State has played since Oklahoma on Jan. 14, 2023. The match was originally scheduled for Friday, but projected rain in the forecast moved the match to Sunday. Houston finished last in the Big 12 at 2-19 a year ago and will face the Texans for their third match of 2025.
Live scoring will be available for both matches through iOnCourt, and Sunday's match will be video streamed.
