BEAUMONT, Texas – Sophomore Tatiana Larina and freshman Natalya Krutova led the fourth seeded Northwestern State tennis team as they rolled by No. 5 Stephen F. Austin 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Tournament on Friday at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.
 
The Lady Demons improve to 12-7 overall while SFA ends the season at 13-10.
 
NSU will match-up against top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana (22-2) in the semifinals on Saturday at two o'clock. The Lady Lions defeated Central Arkansas 4-2 in the opening round of the tournament.
 
The Lady Demons dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker against SLU on April 6.
 
“We have a very tough match tomorrow against top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana,” said Lady Demon head coach Patric DuBois. “We need to start strong again in doubles as this first point is always very important.”
 
Doubles wins by Larina and Andrea Nedorostova and the team of Polina Konop and Krutova secured the doubles point for the Lady Demons as they started the day off with a 1-0 lead.
 
Larina and Nedorostova took down SFA's Malena Gordo and Julia Lorca 8-1 at the No. 1 position while Konop and Krutova overpowered Kate Bugayenko and Valeria Terentyeva 8-3 in the second spot.
                                                     
“We played solid doubles today which gave us a boost going into singles,” said DuBois. “Tatiana, Daniela and Natalya played very well in singles to finish out our scoring and win the match.”
 
Larina and Krutova backed up their doubles victory with straight set singles wins while freshman Daniela Simonova dominated at the No. 6 position, winning 6-1, 6-1. Larina defeated Lorca 6-0, 7-5 in the second position and Krutova posted a commanding 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Bugayenko in the No. 3 match.
 
A victory on Saturday would secure a spot in the SLC Championship match for the Lady Demons where they would take on the winner of the No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 6 Sam Houston State match.
 
 
Northwestern State 4, Stephen F. Austin 1
Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center
Beaumont, Texas
 
Singles Competition
No. 1 - Malena Gordo (SFA) def. Polina Konop (NSU) 7-5, 6-2
No. 2 - Tatiana Larina (NSU) def. Julia Lorca (SFA) 6-0, 7-5
No. 3 - Natalya Krutova (NSU) def. Kate Bugayenko (SFA) 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 - Valeria Terentyeva (SFA) vs. Andrea Nedorostova (NSU) DNF (6-3, 2-2 SFA)
No. 5 - Laura Servise (SFA) vs. Olga Leshyna (NSU) DNF
No. 6 - Daniela Simonova (NSU) def. Miranda Rodriguez (SFA) 6-1, 6-1
 
Doubles Competition
No. 1 - Larina/ Nedorostova (NSU) def. Gordo/ Lorca (SFA) 8-1
No. 2 - Krutova/ Konop (NSU) def. Bugayenko/ Terentyeva 8-3
No. 3 - Amy Williams/ Simonova vs. Servise/ Rodriguez DNF