Tarleton State Tennis faces Grand Canyon, No. 63 SMU this weekend

The Texans look to right the ship following a two-match skid last weekend at North Texas (3-4) and UT Arlington (2-4), which ended a Division-I-best seven-match win streak. Now is an opportunity to start a new run in the right direction.

Tarleton State will play both matches in Dallas at SMU's Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex due to projected rain in the forecast this weekend. Friday's match was to be played at the Tarleton Tennis Complex before the decision to change venues was made on Wednesday.

The Texans face GCU with a distinct advantage in doubles, with overall marks of 32-8 compared to GCU's 22-24 record. Tarleton State clinched the doubles point in each of their last two matches, riding tight victories against UNT from junior duo Ximena Morales /Adeliya Mukhutdinova 7-6 and freshman duo Duru Kuscu/Maria Castano 7-5. Morales/Mukhutdinova went back to it at UTA and won 6-4, as did Emma Persson/Noelia Lorca. The matches extended Morales' doubles win-streak to six and Castano's to four.

In singles, the Texans dropped their first five matches of the weekend but fought back to win two of the last three matchups against the Mean Green. Morales and Mukhutdinova were the standouts again, the latter taking straight sets 6-2, 7-6 in the No. 6 spot while Morales climbed back in her final two sets to taste victory 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 4 spot.

Castano took straight sets in the No. 5 singles spot against UTA's Nika Novikova 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday, the Texans' only singles point of the day. Later in the No. 4 spot, Morales wound up on the other end of her performance the previous day. After jumping out in the first set to a 6-3 win, she lost the final two 1-6, 5-7.

Grand Canyon enters Friday's match with a 10-7 record following a dominant two-match stand at home. First, the Lopes took care of Seattle U (2-10) 4-1, winning every singles match in straight sets after falling in doubles. The following day brought an even stronger outing against Utah Tech (4-12), as they rebounded in doubles with 6-1, 6-2 and 6-1 victories and claimed five more straight set wins in singles.

The Lopes made similar work of the Texans in their last two meetings, winning 7-0 last regular season and 4-0 in the 2024 WAC Tournament. GCU also ended Tarleton State's tournament run in 2023 with a 4-3 victory. The Texans are going for their first victory against GCU since April 6, 2023.

SMU will host the Texans on Sunday ranked No. 63 in the national rankings. The Mustangs hold a 9-12 record following 0-4 and 2-4 defeats to blue bloods North Carolina and Duke, the nation's No. 4 and No. 9 nationally-ranked teams. They play No. 49 nationally-ranked Wichita State at 11 a.m. on Sunday before their date with the Texans at 5 p.m.

Sunday's SMU match will be streamed on SMU Tennis' website. Live scoring is also available for both matches (iOnCourt on Friday, Stat Broadcast on Sunday).