Tarleton State Tennis heads to ACU Classic for second fall tournament

ABILENE, Texas - Tarleton State Tennis will return to the courts this weekend as they travel to Abilene, Texas, for the ACU Classic from Sept. 26-28 at the Cecil and Judie Eager Tennis Pavilion.

The three-day tournament kicks off on Friday and will be the team's second fall event. First serve takes place at 9 a.m. each day.

The Texans previously competed in the Cowgirl Invite, where they had four players who posted a 3-0 record, including seniors Emma Persson and Adeliya Mukhutdinova to go with the strong freshmen presence from Aya Ishi and Marissa Minetti. Persson finished her first fall tournament of the 2025-26 season with a straight sets win over Texas State's Ireland Simme. While Persson was dominating, Ishi hit the ground running and posted a bagel (6-0 set) in her first singles match as a Texan on Sept. 12. Senior Clara Sobius and freshman Dariia Medviedieva also posted undefeated singles records at the Cowgirl Invite, with Medviedieva posting her first bagel (6-0 set) as a Texan in her second singles match.

With momentum from a dominant showing at the Cowgirl Invite and a roster stacked with standouts, the Texans enter the ACU Classic looking to make another statement.
Tarleton State is set to face a familiar opponent, tournament host Abilene Christian. The two programs last met on April 12, 2025, where the Wildcats claimed a 4-1 victory. This time, the Texans head into the matchup eager to turn the tables and showcase their growth since that meeting.

Alongside ACU, the Texans will also face Texas Tech, UTSA, UTA, Sam Houston, SFA, SMU, Texas State, and LA Tech. Standouts in this upcoming tournament include Texas Tech and SFA. Texas Tech enters this tournament as a high-level program, coming off a Big 12 Tournament Championship win over UCF4-2 in the final. SFA is the reigning Southland Conference Championship, where they went 4-0 before heading to the NCAA Tournament.

Headlining the 2025-26 roster is sophomore Maria Castano, the reigning WAC Freshman of the Year. Castano is supported by seniors Ximena Morales along with Persson, Mukhutdinova and Sobius. Persson, the 2023 WAC Player of the Year, earned All-WAC honors in doubles while Mukhutdinova was given All-WAC Second Team honors in singles.

Under head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron in five years at the Division I level, Tarleton State has won the WAC Coach of the Year award, the WAC Player of the Year award, the WAC Freshman of the Year award twice, and 18 All-Conference honors (eight Singles All-WAC First Team, one Doubles All-WAC First Team, seven Singles All-WAC Second Team, two Doubles All-WAC Second Team). The Texans have also earned 47 midseason monthly or weekly awards (four Singles Player of the Month, one Doubles Team of the Month, 20 Singles Player of the Week, and 22 Doubles Team of the Week).

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Players Mentioned

Maria Castano: Sophomore

Ximena Morales: Senior

Adeliya Mukhutdinova: Senior

Emma Persson: Senior

Clara Sobius: Senior

Aya Ishi: Freshman

Marissa Minetti: Freshman

Dariia Medviedieva: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Maria Castano
: Sophomore

Ximena Morales
: Senior

Adeliya Mukhutdinova
: Senior

Emma Persson
: Senior

Clara Sobius
: Senior

Aya Ishi
: Freshman

Marissa Minetti
: Freshman

Dariia Medviedieva
: Freshman