ABILENE – The No. 20 Tarleton TexAnn tennis team dominated McMurry and Hardin-Simmons over the weekend, but also suffered a tough loss to the No. 6 Abilene Christian Wildcats as well.
   
In the weekend opener against McMurry, Tarleton recorded it usual dominant performance by taking eight of the nine scheduled matches.
 
For the first time this season, Alicia Perez and Makenzie Mitchell were the top-seeded doubles team and won in blowout fashion, 8-1. Karla Martinez and Melanie Barnes handled the No. 2 spot with an 8-2 win while Silvia Nieva and Kayla Deatherage handled the third seed 8-1.
 
In the singles matches, Tarleton dominated the top four seeds with Perez winning 6-0, 6-1; Martinez and Barnes sweeping the No. 2 and 3 spots 6-0, 6-0; and Nieva claiming the four-seed victory 6-0, 6-2.
 
Mitchell struggled as the five seed, but earned the win 7-6, 6-3. Kayla Deatherage suffered a 6-4, 6-4 loss.
 
“We got good doubles play from all of our teams and the top half of the lineup was fairly successful,” said Tarleton head coach Lance Drake. “The bottom half of their lineup did a good job of making us play. Coach (Mark) Hawthorn has done a quality job with that program over the years.
   
The second match of the afternoon did not fare as well as the TexAnns ran into three ranked singles opponents for the No. 6 team in the nation.
 
Tarleton, however, did not go down without a fight.
 
The TexAnns No. 1 seeded doubles team of Martinez and Barnes pushed the Wildcats to the brink before falling 9-7. The No. 3 seed of Nieva and Deatherage fell 8-4.
 
Perez and Mitchell managed to earn the only win of the afternoon by knocking off the Wildcats' No. 2 seed, 9-8.
 
In the singles matches, Perez faced off with third-ranked Julia Mongin and fell 6-1, 6-4 while Martinez lost 7-5, 6-1 to 13^th-ranked Micah Hermsdorf. Mitchell dropped her match to the No. 33 singles player, Brittney Reed, 6-0, 6-0.
 
ACU went on to sweep the singles match.
 
“We had good doubles play again,” said Drake. “We actually had a lead in the No. 1 doubles spot but didn't execute in critical times. No. 2 did execute and they got the win.
 
“As a team, we just didn't respond well from a short break and ACU jumped on us from the beginning,” he continued. “They are a very solid team and one of the deepest teams Coach Jones has had. We are young and we have to learn how to play the momentum in these matches. We will continue to work and get better each day.”
   
After suffering the tough loss Friday night, The TexAnns responded by sweeping the court against Hardin-Simmons.
 
“After a tough loss Friday, we came back to play a competitive Hardin-Simmons squad,” said Drake. “Coach (Shane) Williford took over when I left HSU and has done an outstanding job making that program into a perennial power.
 
“We were not as sharp in doubles as I would have liked at the one and two spots, but our three spot had the best outing of the day and played well throughout,” he added. “I'm proud of our play in singles as we were steady in our play at all positions.”
 
No. 3 doubles seed Nieva and Deatherage won 8-1, while Martinez and Barnes won 8-3 in the two spot and Perez and Mitchell claimed an 8-4 win the top spot.
 
In singles play, there was little question about Tarleton's dominance.
 
Perez won 6-0, 6-1 in the top spot while Martinez swept the two seed, 6-0, 6-0.
 
Barnes (6-3, 6-0), Nieva (6-1, 6-0), Mitchell (6-1, 6-0) and Deatherage (6-2, 6-1) finished out the Tarleton lineup.
 
Tarleton returns to action Tuesday against Central Oklahoma in Lawton.