SAN ANTONIO – Aliona Ladutska and Emily Kerr swept their singles and doubles matches Saturday as reigning Southland Conference women's tennis champion Northwestern State powered past Incarnate Word 5-2 in a league match.

Ladutska and Kerr teamed to beat Malisa Vatanadilok and Maria Batchinsky by 8-3 at No. 3 doubles as NSU (5-6 overall, 2-0 in the Southland) claimed the doubles point. In singles, Ladutska posted a 6-4, 6-2 decision at No. 3 over Sarah Savedra while Kerr topped Batchinsky 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 6 match.

The Lady Demons locked up the doubles point with an 8-4 victory at No. 1 by Tatiana Larina and Natalie Krutova. Krutova quickly upped the match score to 2-0 by rolling 6-1, 6-0 in No. 2 singles over Maton Zemunik, and a 6-1, 6-1 Polina Ivanova triumph at No. 5 past Antea Dedic boosted NSU ahead 3-0.

Ladutska's singles victory followed to make it 4-0 and clinch the outcome.

"It's a good win for us. We played well and executed good in doubles and singles," said first-year Lady Demons coach Olga Bazhanova. "We started a little slow and picked up momentum as the matches continued."

Sunday, NSU battles the team that denied it two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a matchup of the last two Southland Tournament champions. Bazhanova said Saturday's match was a good tuneup for Sunday's contest.

"We handled the windy conditions today and we expect the same conditions at Corpus Christi. We need to start the match at a high level and maintain that," she said.