Thomas, Guzman named WAC Players of the Week
The Tarleton Texans had several big performances in Saturday’s 41-20 win at Dixie State, but two stuck out in particular in the conference’s eyes.
J.F. Thomas and Adrian Guzman were named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Oct. 11-17.
This marks each player’s first career weekly awards, and the third and fourth weekly awards for the Texans this season.
Thomas led the purple and white in receiving against the Trailblazers with six catches, 169 yards and a touchdown. On the first drive of the game, Thomas had 64 yards on two catches, capping off Tarleton’s opening scoring march with a 30-yard TD. It marked the senior’s best game of the season, as he topped the century mark in yardage for the first time this year. It’s his first 100-yard game since Oct. 12, 2019, at Eastern New Mexico.
Thomas ranks fifth in the WAC in receiving yards at 57.0 per game and he is one of 13 receivers across the league with multiple touchdowns this season.
Guzman, meanwhile, made two 37-yard field goals and all five of his extra point attempts in the win. He tied his season-high for field goal makes in a game, with the 37-yarders new season-highs. The freshman has seven field goal makes to his name this year, second-most in the WAC.
Thomas and Guzman join teammates D.J. Harris and Greg Eggleston Jr. in earning a WAC weekly honor this season. Benjie Franklin was a nominee for WAC Defensive Player of the Week this round.
Makantasi, Marcinkevica knock off competition in strong regionals run
FORT WORTH – Tarleton’s Martha Makantasi and Deniza Marcinkevica were among the limited number of participants invited to compete in the ITA Division I Women’s Texas Regional Championship. They sure made their mark in front of the other Texas NCAA Division I schools, proving the Tarleton program is not one to take lightly.
Makantasi and Marcinkevica knocked off opponents from Texas, SMU, Sam Houston and Incarnate Word as part of their main draw regionals run in Fort Worth in the tournament hosted by TCU at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center that began on Thursday.
Both were assigned to the qualification singles round on Thursday, meaning each would need to go 2-0 on the day in order to advance to the main draw. Both Texans indeed went 2-0 in extremely impressive fashion.
Makantasi got things started with a 6-0 6-1 win over Texas’ Gabby Cusano. Marcinkevica played next, winning 6-3 6-4 over Sam Houston’s Sunskrithi Damera, who went 5-1 in singles for the Bearkats last season. In the second and final qualifiers round, Makantasi beat Incarnate Word’s Lauren Fulgenzi 6-3 6-4. Marcinkevica completed the perfect day for Tarleton with a 6-2 6-4 win over No. 8 seeded Winslow Huth from SMU.
Friday was a tougher day when it came to straight results, but the effort and play were prevalent, especially since the Texans faced fresh competition who hadn’t logged multiple matches yet. They dropped a close doubles match 5-8 in the single-elimination tournament. In the main draw, Makantasi fell to star Texas A&M freshman Mary Stoiana 1-6 1-6. Stoiana was ranked No. 11 in the main draw. Marcinkevica took No. 5 Kylie Collins from Texas to the wire, dropping it 4-6 4-6.
In the consolation bracket, Makantasi dropped a heartbreaker to Rice’s Anastasia Smirnova 6-7(5) 3-6. Marcinkevica had run out of gas from her bout with Collins and fell to UTA’s Ana Paula Jimenez 1-6 1-6.
There is a lot to build on from the regionals tournament. Tarleton gets a chance to do that quickly, as the Texans will host Weatherford College in the Texan Invite on Friday.
Kinsey named TicketSmarter WAC Offensive Player of the Week
DENVER, CO – After leading Tarleton to a pair of victories last week, Tarleton senior outside hitter Carmen Kinsey has earned her first career TicketSmarter WAC Player of the Week award.
Kinsey, a senior from Norman, Okla., turned in a pair of dominant performances to lead the Texans to a perfect 2-0 record on the week. In back-to-back home matches, Kinsey combined to average 3.57 kills per set on .490 hitting while recording no errors.
Her week was highlighted by a 17-kill outing in a four-set victory over Abilene Christian on Saturday. Against the Wildcats, Kinsey posted a .500 hitting percentage to account for 4.5 points per set.
Kinsey’s performance against ACU on Saturday featured a return to the volleyball court between longtime rivals Tarleton and Abilene Christian. In the first meeting since 2012, the Texans lit up the Wildcats offensively and coasted to a four-set victory in set scores of 25-14, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-19.
The contest marked the first-ever meeting between Tarleton and ACU as members of the Western Athletic Conference in any sport. Tarleton has now claimed three consecutive meetings vs. the Wildcats on the volleyball court dating back to the previous decade when both schools called the Lone Star Conference home.
Kinsey and the Texans will make the short trip to Abilene this weekend for a pair of neutral site matches against West Division teams from the WAC – California Baptist and Dixie State. Tarleton plays CBU at 1 p.m. Friday and Dixie State at 4 p.m. Saturday at the home of the Wildcats.
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