Tarleton Texan Tennis Camps

Coaching Staff

SONIA CARLSON
ASSISTANT WOMEN'S TENNIS COACH

Sonia Carlson completed her third season as the assistant coach of the Tarleton women's tennis team in 2022-23.

Carlson and head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron have quickly turned the Texan program elite in their short NCAA Division I history. After claiming the Western Athletic Conference regular season title in 2021-22, Tarleton took second in their first NCAA Division I conference tournament in 2022-23, a silver medal finish after going second in the WAC regular season at 7-2.

Since becoming an NCAA Division I program, the Texans have posted an overall record of 46-21 (.687), including a 17-3 (.850) mark in conference matches. In just these three seasons at the D1 level, Tarleton has won the WAC Coach of the Year award, the WAC Player of the Year award, the WAC Freshman of the Year award, and 11 All-Conference honors (six Singles All-WAC First Team, one Doubles All-WAC First Team, three Singles All-WAC Second Team, one Doubles All-WAC Second Team). They’ve also earned 30 midseason monthly or weekly awards (two Singles Player of the Month, one Doubles Team of the Month, 14 Singles Player of the Week, and 13 Doubles Team of the Week). Plus, in their first D1 conference tournament that they played in to cap off 2022-23, four of the eight players recognized by the conference on the All-Tournament Team were members of the purple and white, the most by any program.

This past season (2022-23), the Texans went 17-7 overall (7-2 WAC), going 7-2 at home, 8-3 in true road matches and 2-2 at neutral sites. Even with such a young team, six of the nine players being underclassmen including five freshmen, they finished second in the Western Athletic Conference by one match, earning a No. 2 seed in their first ever WAC Tournament. Playing at the Arlington Tennis Center, the Texans rolled their quarterfinals and semifinals opponents, Seattle U and New Mexico State, each 4-1. In the championship, it came down to a tiebreaker in the third set in the final match with the team score tied 3-3, before ultimately the Texans took silver. The loss in the championship snapped a season-long six-match winning streak, but still the Texans ruled the WAC All-Tournament Team after the fact, having the most players honored as Elsa Boisson and Celia Vaudiau were named to the 2023 WAC Women's Tennis All-Tournament Team in both singles and doubles, plus Emma Persson and Clara Sobius joined them on the doubles team.

In 2022-23, Carlson helped coached the WAC Player of the Year, the WAC Freshman of the Year, and two Singles All-WAC First Team players. Persson became the fifth player in program history to be named the conference player of the year, and the first since the Texans joined the WAC. She is the first freshman in Tarleton Tennis history to earn Player of the Year honors. Persson also took home the Freshman of the Year award and was on the Singles All-WAC First Team, along with Boisson. In midseason awards, Tarleton had 10 total WAC recognitions, seven in the spring. In the spring, Persson (twice), Martha Makantasi (twice) and Boisson were WAC Singles Players of the Week, while Makantasi plus Clara Sobius and Ximena Morales plus Laure Razet were Doubles Teams of the Week. In the fall, Celia Vaudiau and Persson were Singles Players of the Month, and Boisson plus Morales were Doubles Team of the Month.

In the regular season, Tarleton of course had an exceptional conference slate, but they had a memorable non-conference run as well. After losing their first two matches against the No. 4 ranked team in the nation, Oklahoma, and SEC power Missouri, Tarleton won nine of their next 11 matches, with road wins at Oral Roberts, UTSA, Texas State and Sacramento State. They also knocked off Drake at home.

The 2021-22 season was one of the greatest seasons in program history, led by head coach Elianne Douglas-Miron and Carlson. The Texans were WAC Southwest Division regular season champions, the first program across Tarleton Athletics to win a WAC title. Tarleton went 18-4 overall, 5-0 in conference play, and 10-0 against WAC teams altogether. The Texans were 8-1 at home, 5-3 in true road matches, and 5-0 in neutral site matches. The Texans would have been the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament, if not for their reclassification to NCAA Division I postseason pause.

At 18-4, the Texans won their most matches in a single-season since 2005-06. Eight of those wins were sweeps, Tarleton's most shutout victories in a season in at least the past 15 years. In just their second season at the NCAA Division I level, Tarleton went 16-4 against fellow D1 opponents. The Texans had two 6+ match winning streaks, ending the year on a seven-match run, their longest winning streak in eight years. Tarleton went undefeated in the conference for the first time in at least the past 15 years, while claiming their first winning record on the road since 2017-18. Of the eight women who played at singles, six were .500 or better, five at a .600+ winning percentage. The Texans’ combined singles record was 80-41 (.661). In doubles, the Texans were a combined 40-16 (.714) in matches, and won the doubles point in every single one of their last 10 matches. Seven of the eight Texans who played competitive doubles in 2021-22 had winning records.

In 2021-22, Tarleton athletes won five WAC season awards -- three All-WAC First Team Singles awards, one All-WAC First Team Doubles award, and one All-WAC Second Team Singles award. During the year, the Texans won 12 WAC weekly awards, winning at least one in eight of the 14 weeks that awards were distributed. Four times Tarleton swept the weekly awards. The Texans had six Singles Athlete of the Week awards and six Doubles Team of the Week honors. Of Tarleton's eight-woman roster, six received at least one WAC weekly award, four different athletes in singles, six different athletes in doubles, and four earning both.

Three of Tarleton's four losses in 2021-22 were to extremely successful programs, including two to top-10 ranked teams in the Division I Women's ITA Collegiate Tennis National Team Rankings. Tarleton opened the spring at No. 14 Texas A&M, giving the Aggies a fight in College Station. The next day still in College Station, Tarleton earned their first win in shutout fashion over McNeese State. The Texans' next match was at No. 18 Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, one of their four losses on the year. Tarleton bounced back with six straight wins, including a thriller at Belmont and three sweeps of Southwestern, UTPB and UTRGV. That set up a 7-2 Tarleton at 10-2 Louisiana Tech match, a highly competitive affair that went to the Lady Techsters. LA Tech went on to start the year 16-2 with 14 straight wins. The Texans then won four in a row, their most notable win coming in Phoenix at Grand Canyon, the reigning WAC champions. The Texans handled them 4-2, two games away from making it 5-2, proving to the conference who the top dog would be in 2021-22. Tarleton won their final seven matches, beginning the streak with their first conference match, a win against Lamar. They then beat Stephen F. Austin 5-2. In the final match against a non-WAC team, the Texans crushed Conference USA's UTEP 6-1. The Texans followed with a win against New Mexico State, who went on to win the WAC Tournament with Tarleton unable to participate. Against Sam Houston, the excitement in Stephenville surrounding the program was palpable, drawing great crowds to the Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts, enough to rattle the Bearkats all day in Tarleton's win. On April 3, the Texans clinched the WAC Southwest Division at home against UTRGV, sweeping the Vaqueros 7-0 for the second time in the same season. To finish the year, the Texans won a thriller at Abilene Christian 4-3 in front of a good Wildcats' crowd to complete the undefeated WAC season.

Carlson helped lead the Texans in their first season at the NCAA Division I level in 2020-21 to second place in the Western Athletic Conference, going 5-1 in WAC play, 11-10 overall. Tarleton won five of their last six matches to close the season out strong, including four wins over WAC opponents. Four Texans earned season All-WAC honors -- one All-WAC First Team Singles award, two All-WAC Second Team Singles awards, and one All-WAC Second Team Doubles award.

Carlson, whose maiden name is Madronal, came to Tarleton following a four-year playing career at the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA). During her time as a Roadrunner, she was a four-time member of the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. She was a standout doubles performer, winning 19 doubles matches over her career, including 16 in her final two seasons.

Following her playing career, Carlson moved on to Stephen F. Austin to be a graduate assistant coach. The Ladyjacks won 14 matches over her two seasons there, including a 7-7 record when the spring ended prematurely in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A native of Barcelona, Spain, Carlson received a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from UTSA in 2018 and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from SFA in 2020. She is married to Ryan Carlson, who played football at Incarnate Word.