ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington women's tennis looks to continue building on its momentum with a pair of matches against in-state foes over the weekend. The Mavericks kick off the slate with a match against the Tarleton State Texans at 11 a.m. Friday at the UTA Tennis Center before traveling to San Marcos to face the Texas State Bobcats at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.

UTA (3-8) has been much improved in its past three matches. After competitive showings against Louisiana-Lafayette and Appalachian State, the Mavericks finally broke through with a 6-1 victory over the Butler Bulldogs.

One key turnaround has come in doubles play. UTA won the doubles point against both Louisiana and Butler after not winning doubles in its first eight dual matches of the spring. 

The pairing of Elizaveta Mladentseva and Sofia Selle in particular has proven effective. The duo won doubles Court 2 against both Butler and Louisiana. 

Vanja Cado also made her return to the lineup against Butler. The sophomore had been out of action since the Mavericks swept a doubleheader against UT Dallas and Lubbock Christian on Feb. 7.

The Karlskrona, Sweden-native's return to action was a good one. Cado defeated Butler's Sienna Miles in straight sets on singles Court 3. The sophomore also teamed with Diana Kaibara on doubles Court 1, the match being left unfinished at 5-5.

All but one court went the Mavericks way in singles action against the Bulldogs and UTA only went to a decisive third set in one of them. Natalia Gonzalez got off to a torrid start on Court 5, winning the first nine games of the match and cruising to a 6-0, 6-2 win.

Tasnime Ahamout and Kaibara won in straight sets as well, Kaibara winning three consecutive games in the second set to win 7-5 on Court 1. Mladentseva won the only match that required a third set. The graduate student outlasted Butler's Brooke Arington 7-6 (7-3) in the second set and won the super tiebreaker third 10-8.

Scouting Tarleton State
The Texans enter Arlington at 8-5 in the spring. Tarleton is coming off a weekend split, sweeping UMKC 4-0, but falling to Tulsa 4-2. The Mavericks and Texans share a common opponent in Appalachian State, UTA falling 5-2 and Tarleton emerging victorious at 4-3.

In their bout with App State, the Texans trailed 3-1 before rattling off victories on courts two, six and three to complete the comeback. Aya Ishii has been a standout this spring for Tarleton, sporting a 10-2 record in dual matches while competing on Court 1 —where she is 3-1 — and Court 2, where she sits at 7-1. Ishii is also 8-3 in doubles matches.

The Mavericks lead the overall series against the Texans 6-3. Six of the eight matches have come since 2021 and UTA is 4-3 in those contests.

Scouting Texas State
The Bobcats are 7-4 this spring, their last completed match being a 4-0 sweep of Southeast Missouri State on March 8. Texas State and the Mavericks also share one common opponent, that being the North Texas Mean Green. The Bobcats lost to UNT 4-2 in Denton while UTA fell 4-0 at home.

Ireland Simme has been among the best singles players for Texas State, touting a 7-2 record overall that includes a 4-0 mark on Court 4. The Bobcats have also been exceptional in doubles play, winning the doubles point in nine of their last 10 matches.

UTA has dominated the all-time series 25-5 against Texas State, including victories in the past ten matches. This will be the first meeting in the series since 2022.

The match against Tarleton can be followed live on Statbroadcast and watched live on Sporfie. The bout against Texas State can also be found on Statbroadcast. FOLLOW ALONG
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