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NATCHITOCHES – Freshman Kateryna Piatakova's 6-3, 6-0 win at fourth singles allowed the Northwestern State tennis team to shut out Southeastern Louisiana 4-0 Tuesday morning and clinch the Southland Conference regular-season co-championship crown and No. 1 overall seed in this weekend's conference tournament, hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Lady Demons (18-5 overall, 11-1 in the Southland) posted a perfect 10-0 record at home this season, the first time since 2010, and will share their fourth overall regular-season championship with the Islanders. NSU earned regular-season crowns in 1989, 1994 and 2010.
 
"We are so happy to get a good win today, and reach one of our goals, which was to win the Southland Conference regular-season championship," said head coach Patric DuBois. "I am very proud of these young ladies who work hard year round and fight through injuries to play their best. They work on fitness in the mornings, run on concrete for another three hours a day, and get the grades as well, so this is a wonderful accomplishment for them."
 
With the threat of a storm entering the area, the teams put off the doubles point and skipped straight to singles. Daniele Simonova gave NSU its first point with a 6-1, 6-0 domination at sixth singles, followed by freshman Aliona Ladutska defeating Margaux Kaltenbacker 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5.
 
Junior Tatiana Larina put the Lady Lions (14-7, 6-6) at an arm's length with a 6-3, 6-2 win at second, and was followed by Piatakova with the win at No. 4 shortly after.
 
"It feels great to win after working so hard all year, especially in conditioning," said Piatakova. "Now that we're on top we just need to go to Corpus Christi and do what we have to in order to win."
 
Northwestern State holds the No. 1 overall seed heading into the conference tournament after defeating the Islanders 4-3 earlier this season.  Single-elimination style play begins on Friday at 11:00 with the Lady Demons squaring off with No. 8 Lamar at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. 
 
Singles
1. Polina Konop (NSU) vs. Renee Villarreal 6-7, 1-4, unfinished
2. Tatiana Larina (NSU) def. Nastya Tokareva 6-3, 6-2
3. Natalya Krutova (NSU) vs. Valya Rusakova 6-3, 5-5, unfinished
4. Kateryna Piatakova (NSU) def. Avika Sagwal 6-3, 6-0
5. Aliona Ladutska (NSU) def. Margaux Kaltenbacher 6-3, 6-0
6. Daniela Simonova (NSU) def. Adriana Castillo 6-1, 6-0
 
Order of finish: Singles (6,5,2,4)