The Howard Payne University women’s tennis team drops their spring semester opener 9-0 to Division II No. 22 Tarleton State University Thursday afternoon at the Nabers Tennis Center.

Gabi Crunelle battled against TSU’s top player, Alicia Perez falling 6-1, 6-0. Karla Martinez and Melanie Barnes swept the Lady Jackets’ Joan Burks and Larissa Lynskey, respectively, by 6-0, 6-0 scores.

Makenzie Mitchell knocked off Jenna Johnson 6-2, 6-1 in her Tarleton debut while Silvia Nieva defeated Emilee Stephens 6-1, 6-0. Kayla Deatherage also defeated Samantha Guerrero 6-3, 6-2.

“We have been working on trying to get a better understanding of what we want to do on the court,” said Drake. “We are getting stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. We were able to get some small breakthroughs today in a positive direction.”

In the doubles matches, Tarleton also swept the court. The closest match of the afternoon was the number three doubles. TSU’s Nieva and Deatherage won 8-3 over Stephens and Guerrero.

Tarleton’s number one team of Martinez and Barnes defeated Crunelle and Burks 8-1 while HPU’s Lynskey and Johnson fell to Perez and Mitchell 8-0 in the number two doubles match.

The Howard Payne women will play in Stephenville on Saturday against the University of Texas – Permian Basin at 2:00 pm.