STEPHENVILLE, Texas – It didn’t take long for the Western Athletic Conference to notice the Tarleton tennis team.
In just the first week of the 2022 spring campaign, the Texans earned both WAC weekly awards, with Celia Vaudiau named WAC Singles Athlete of the Week and Deniza Marcinkevica and Jemi Aguilar named WAC Doubles Team of the Week.
The Texans aren’t new to this recognition, raking in several WAC weekly honors in their first season in the conference in 2021.
That includes Vaudiau, who was All-WAC First Team in 2021 and – along with Rose Watanabe – won the first WAC Player of the Week award in program history. The junior takes WAC Singles Athlete of the Week after a 1-1 start that included a straight-set sweep 6-0, 6-0 of McNeese’s Yukina Abe. She also played the No. 5 position player on the No. 14 team in the nation at Texas A&M incredibly tough, losing 5-7, 0-6 to Renee McBryde.
In doubles, Marcinkevica and Aguilar played in the No. 1 flight, cruising by McNeese’s top pair of Carlotta Romito and Ariane Monlleo Sanchis 6-1. On Sunday against No. 14 Texas A&M, Marcinkevica and Aguilar faced the No. 5 ranked doubles pairing across all of NCAA Division I in Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova. The Texans took two games against the pair and were down 2-5 before the match was discontinued because the doubles point had already been decided.
This is the junior Marcinkevica’s first WAC award, having recently transferred to Tarleton from Fresno State. Aguilar, a senior, was on the All-WAC Doubles Team last season and was a WAC Doubles Player of the Week in mid-April.
As a team, Tarleton went 1-1 this week, sweeping McNeese on Monday 7-0. Both of their matches were played at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
The Texans will next take on the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman on Saturday in a doubleheader. Match times are set for 10 a.m. CT and 2 p.m. CT. at the Headington Family Tennis Center.