DENTON, Texas – Coming down to the final singles match of the day, North Texas obtained the final point to defeat Tarleton State Tennis 4-3 on Saturday at the Waranch Tennis Complex.
UNT snapped the Texans' seven-match win streak, tied for the longest win streak in the Division I Era.
Juniors Ximena Morales and Adeliya Mukhutdinova shined in Saturday's showdown, each picking up singles wins after winning their doubles match on Court 2. Mukhutdinova obtained her 11th singles win of the season while Morales had her ninth singles victory of 2025.
North Texas looked to take the match's first point after tasting victory on doubles Court 1, 6-2, but the Texans refused to go down without a fight. After UNT's Stanislava Shulzhenk/Stadfany Nformi took a 5-4 advantage on Court 2, Morales/Mukhutdinova forced a deuce and obtained the last point in the 10th game to tie the match. The juniors won two of the next three games to get the victory on Court 2, 7-6.
With the doubles point up for grabs, Tarleton State's freshmen duo of
Maria Castano and
Duru Kuscu took charge. The freshmen got the game-clinching point in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and sealed the doubles portion in the next game to take the match on Court 3, 7-5.
North Texas responded by edging out the Texans in the first two singles matches, obtaining wins in straight sets on Court 1 and Court 2. The Texans, however, quickly tied the match 2-2 with Mukhutdinova's singles victory on Court 6. The Boca Raton, Florida, native dominated in set one before coming in the clutch in a tightly-contested set two to defeat Nformi 6-2, 7-6.
Court 4 looked to go towards the Mean Green, but Morales turned up the heat to ignite a comeback. The Guatemalan came out on top in set two by taking six of the eight games to force a third set. After holding a one-game lead in the third set, Morales completed the comeback and came out on top 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 over Lou Chalard. Saturday's win marked Morales' first come-from-behind victory of the season and her first three-set win since March 27, 2024.
The Texans carried the lead in the match heading into the last two singles matches, but the Mean Green were the ones that came out victorious. North Texas won the three-set contests on Court 3 and Court 5 to take the final two points and clinch Saturday's match.
"I'm proud of our fight and effort today," head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron said. "We learned a lot of good lessons that are going to help us next month. I thought Ximena and Adeliya were outstanding today and had great poise to help us in the match. We'll be ready for the quick turnaround tomorrow at UTA."
Tarleton State will wrap up the weekend at UT Arlington on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the UTA Tennis Center.
