NATCHITOCHES – After her dramatic three-set win at No. 1 singles capped a remarkable comeback win Sunday at Mississippi State, Northwestern State senior Olga Bazhanova was voted the Southland Conference women's tennis Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.
 
Bazhanova fought off a second-set match point at No. 1 against 2011 Fall ITA Southern Regional quarterfinalist Ekaterina Iakovleva Sunday and posted a thrilling 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory to cap a string of four straight Northwestern singles triumphs as the new-look Lady Demons rallied for a 4-3 victory at Starkville.
 
It was the season opener for the NSU women, who lost highly-accomplished standouts Bianca Schulz, Kathrin Lange, Adna Curukovic and Martina Rubesova to graduation after last season. The victory is believed to be one of only three wins by a Southland women's tennis team this century over an opponent from the Big 12 or Southeastern Conference, with Southeastern Louisiana having defeated Mississippi State in 2007 and Texas-San Antonio recording a 2003 win over Texas Tech.
 
Bazhanova faced a match point down 5-4 in the second set but survived to force a tiebreaker, which she won 7-4. She went up 5-4 in the final set, then broke Iakovleva on four straight points to win it.
 
“I can't say enough about our senior. That was a very good player she beat. It was one of the best matches I've seen Olga play for us and it came with everything on the line,” said Lady Demons interim head coach Patric DuBois.  
 
Bazhanova and doubles teammate Polina Konop got the match started with an easy 8-1 win in the No. 1 doubles match, but Mississippi State rallied to claim the doubles point with wins in the Nos. 2 and 3 positions.  Freshmen Tatiana Larina, Konop and Amy Williams captured the 3, 4 and 5 singles matches to fuel the comeback after State, which opened Saturday with a win over Louisiana-Lafayette, picked up a hard-fought doubles point and was on the verge of closing out the match after claiming straight set victories at Nos. 2 and 6 singles.
 
“It was a great team effort after losing a very difficult doubles point,” said DuBois. “We forgot about doubles and went into singles play very determined. We asked them who would win their singles match, and each one of our girls said she would. I told them we'd be pleased with four wins and that's what we got. My hat's off to them.”
 
NSU will play at Houston next Saturday and opens the home season Feb. 25 against ULL.