FT. MYERS, Fla. – A young Northwestern State women's tennis team makes its 2012 debut this weekend in the Florida Gulf Coast University Invitational, counting on accomplished veterans Olga Bazhanova and Andrea Nedorostova to set the tone against some top-flight competition early in the season.
 
The weekend tournament is flighted with individual singles play and doubles competition, not dual team match action. The Lady Demons' first dual match comes Feb. 5 at Mississippi State. Teams with entries this weekend in addition to NSU and FGCU are Miami, Iowa State, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, Wichita State, North Florida, and Stephen F. Austin.
 
The Lady Demons are 38-8 in their last two seasons, 18-6 last year, but lost highly-accomplished standouts Bianca Schulz, Kathrin Lange, Adna Curukovic and Martina Rubesova to graduation.
 
Bazhanova, a senior, returns at the No. 1 singles and doubles positions. She was 12-7 last season in singles and 13-8 in doubles. Her 47 career doubles wins in dual match play (47-8) are ninth in school history.
 
Nedorostova, a junior, last year earned first-team All-Southland honors at No. 2 doubles for the second straight year. She was 19-4 in singles, including 8-3 at No. 5 in Southland play. Her 20-3 mark in doubles included a perfect 11-0 in Southland regular-season matches. Nedorostova and her former doubles partner Martina Rubesova were a perfect 28-0 overall in two seasons against Southland foes, including conference tournament play. She is 39-3 in two seasons in doubles play and 33-9 in singles action in dual match competition.
 
Among the six newcomers on the trip for Northwestern are five freshmen:  Linda Gamo, Tatiana Larina, Olga Leyshyna, Dana Sardak and Amy Williams, along with sophomore Polina Konop. Larina and Nedorostova captured the Flight 2 doubles title in NSU's final fall event, the North Texas Classic, while Bazhanova, Sardak and Williams shined in singles play.
 
“We look forward to competing in this tournament again this year.  It is a great way to begin the spring season,” said Lady Demon coach Patric DuBois.  “We will face very good competition and we'll have good outdoor weather to compete.  We can gauge where we are at before our first dual match in two weeks against a strong Mississippi State team."
 
The Lady Demons will play their first four dual matches on the road before a Feb. 25 home match against Louisiana-Lafayette. Southland Conference play begins at home March 3 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.