Lady Demon Fall Invitational draw/info

NATCHITOCHES – Eight teams from around the region, five Southland Conference squads and four in-state rivals, join the reigning Southland Conference women's tennis champion, Northwestern State, in the annual Lady Demon Fall Invitational Friday and Saturday.
 
Two All-Southland Conference standouts, senior Tatiana Larina and sophomore Kateryna Piatakova, headline the four entries from NSU. Sophomore Aliona Ladutska and freshman Emily Kerr will also represent the host team in this weekend's competition, said first-year head coach Olga Bazhanova.
 
Action begins at 8:30 Friday morning and the final round of championship matches are expected to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Competition will be based at NSU's Jack Fisher Tennis Complex, with singles draws for Flights 5 and 6, and third-flight doubles play contested at the Natchitoches Country Club.
 
Southland Conference foes entered are Lamar, Nicholls, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin.
 
Louisiana-Lafayette and Grambling join Nicholls and SLU as state schools competing at NSU. Also in the field is Southern Mississippi.
 
"We are very excited and  our fans are looking forward to see the girls compete at home," said Bazhanova.  "It`s going to be a first tournament of the year for some of the girls in our team and I am really excited to see their performances.
 
"We have been working hard in the past few weeks and it`s a great opportunity to see transition of the girls from practicing to competition," she said. "It`s going to be high level college tennis."
 
Doubles play in Flights 1 and 2 begins at 8:30 Friday morning at NSU, with Flights 1-2 singles starting an hour later. Flights 3-4 singles go off at 11 a.m.
 
Second-round action in Flights 1-2 starts at 1 p.m. followed by Flight 3-4 singles at 2:30. 
 
Saturday's championship rounds in Flights 1-2 begins at 8:30 a.m., with doubles championship action at 1. Flight 3-4 singles finals are at 10 a.m. and the Flight 3 doubles finals are at 1.
 
At the Natchitoches Country Club, third flight doubles opening round competition begins at 8:30 Friday, with Flight 5 singles at 9:30, Flight 6 singles at 11, second-round Flight 5 action at 1, and Flight 6 continuing at 2:30.
 
Saturday's NCC play has Flight 5 singles finals at 8:30 a.m., Flight 6 finals at 10, Flight 3 doubles at 11:45 and Flight 3 doubles finals at 1 o'clock.