The Tarleton State University women’s tennis team traveled to Arkadelphia, AR on Feb. 21-22 to participate in the Ouachita Baptist/Henderson State Tournament.

The TexAnns won three of the four matches at the tournament, sweeping three teams: Delta State University (5-0), Henderson State University (9-0), and Ouachita Baptist University (9-0), but lost the third match to No. 18 Southwest Baptist University (2-7).

During the first game of the tournament, Tarleton started out with a doubles sweep of Delta State, then finished up with two victories in the singles matches thanks to Alicia Perez and Melanie Barnes.

Barnes and Silvia Nieva finished first among the doubles teams and landed an 8-1 victory, while Perez and Mackenzie Mitchell had a 9-8 victory. Ivana Zecevic and Luiza Adas were the last of the doubles teams to end and finished with a sweep with an 8-5 victory.

Barnes received the first singles win after her opponent was forced to retire due to an injury (5-2), and Perez finished out the singles sweep in the No. 1 match with a 6-1, 6-0 win. Tarleton then took on Henderson State and walked away with a 9-0 win.

In the doubles, Ellie Stevens and April Downing (8-0) took the No. 3 match, Perez and Mitchell won the No. 2 match (8-1), and Zecevic and Adas (8-0) took the No. 1 match.

Mitchell earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the singles, while Marina Rull (6-2, 6-1), Adas (7-5, 6-1), and Nieva (7-5, 6-2) won the No. 2, 3, and 4 matches, respectively.

Day two ended in a split for the TexAnns.

The first team the ladies faced was Southwest Baptist, the No. 18 team in the nation and No. 1 in their region.

The Wildcats managed to defeat the TexAnns 7-2.

On the doubles side, all three matches were close, but Tarleton lost the No. 1 and No. 2 matches 8-3 and 8-5, respectively. The team of Barnes and Nieva took the No. 3 match victory 8-5.

For the singles, Tarleton lost the first five games with Perez falling 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 1 match and Zecevic falling 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 match. Marina Rull (6-1, 6-1) and Adas (6-0, 7-5) lost their No. 3 and No. 5 matches, respectively, while Barnes took her No. 4 match to three sets, but fell 2-6, 6-2, and 6-4.

Nieve was the only TexAnn to finish the singles side with a victory. She won the No. 6 match 8-0.

Determined to make a comeback, Tarleton then faced Ouachita Baptist for the final game.

Perez and Stevens teamed up for an 8-0 win in the No. 1 match. April Downing and Mitchell also swept the Tigers in the No. 2 match, and the No. 3 match was given to Tarleton by default due to OBU lacking a third doubles pairing.

In singles, Stevens won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-2 while Mitchell (7-5, 6-2) and Downing (6-1, 6-0) were victorious in matches No. 3 and 4. OBU was short on players again and Rull (1), Adas (5), and Nieva (6) received victories for their respective matches.

The TexAnns will travel to East Central University in Ada, Okla. on Thursday, Feb. 27, to play at 1:30 p.m.