Tarleton State Tennis eyes repeat success at second-ever WAC Fall Invitational

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Tarleton State Tennis will look to take home some hardware at the second-ever WAC Fall Invitational starting Thursday at Utah Tech's Trailblazer Tennis Courts.

The Texans brought home the event's first-ever singles title in 2024, with Noelia Lorca winning four matches in three days as the No. 5 seed to take the crown. She became the WAC's singles qualifier for the 2024 ITA Conference Masters Championship.

A trio of Texans will compete for the singles and doubles championships at this year's event. Sophomore Maria Castano and senior Emma Persson are the top two seeds in the singles draw, with freshman Aya Ishii set to join Castano on Tarleton State's doubles team. The winner of the draws will represent the WAC at the ITA Conference Masters Championship Nov. 6-9 in San Diego.

Persson co-led the Texans in singles at the ITA Texas Regional Championships that concluded earlier this week, qualifying for her third main draw in the event en route to the Round of 32. After two wins in qualifying, she continued the momentum in the main draw and collected a bagel (6-0 set) before winning the second set tiebreak to defeat UTSA's Celine Absawi 6-0, 7-6(7).

Winning WAC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors in 2023, Persson became the fifth player in program history to be named the conference player of the year, and the first since the Texans joined the WAC as a freshman. Playing primarily in Tarleton State's No. 1 singles spot, Persson was ranked sixth in Sweden's national U18 rankings before signing with the Texans.

Castano is coming off a 6-1, 6-1 win over UTSA's Giuliana Giardina 6-1, 6-1 for her first main draw win at the ITA Regionals. The 2025 WAC Freshman of the Year is the No. 1 seed in the singles draw after leading the Texans with 15 singles wins last spring.

In addition to becoming the second Texan to earn WAC Freshman of the Year, Castano also earned spots on the All-Conference First Team and All-Tournament Team last spring. She became the first Tarleton State freshman in the Division I era to win her first six singles matches and defeat a Power 4 opponent. Castano also helped the Texans knock off eventual WAC champion, GCU, by winning the final six games on Court 5 to clinch the come-from-behind win.

In her first ITA Texas Regional Championships match, Ishii came out victorious. After splitting the first two sets, Ishii clinched the third set and defeated SMU's Natalie Stasny 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Ishii, the first Japanese player in Tarleton State's Division I era, posted a top 20 ranking both in singles and doubles. She also led her Urawareimei team to the National High School Tennis Championships title in 2024.

The singles quarterfinals begin at 10 a.m. CT Thursday, with the doubles semifinals set for later that afternoon at 2 p.m. CT. Live scoring will be provided through Stat Broadcast and updates will be available on Tarleton State's Tennis' social media @TarletonTennis.

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