NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Intense competition on every court marked a clash of Southland Conference women's tennis unbeatens Saturday, with Stephen F. Austin getting more than its share of hard-fought victories in a 4-1 decision over visiting Northwestern State.
 
The outcome left SFA (10-4, 4-0) alongside Nicholls (6-0 in Southland play) as the league's only two undefeated teams, and extended the Ladyjacks' win streak to six. It snapped a seven-match string of wins by the Lady Demons (8-7, 5-1), the defending Southland champions.
 
Four of the six singles matches went to three sets on the heels of doubles battle decided by a 9-7 SFA win at the second position by Julia Lorca and Denise Maxl over NSU's Polina Ivanova and Barbora Kollarova.
 
NSU's nationally-ranked (60^th) No. 1 doubles team of Tatiana Larina and Natalya Krutova dominated their match 8-2, raising their spring record to 10-1, but SFA's No. 3 doubles tandem won by the same score, leaving the doubles point to be decided by the No. 2 match.
 
"It was a good fight from both sides. After we lost the doubles point, we started pretty tight in singles and we didn't execute as much as we should have," said NSU coach Olga Bazhanova.
 
Krutova, now 11-4 in singles, got NSU on the board with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at No. 2 over Maxl. SFA moved back on top when Dany Quevedo edged Aliona Ladutska 6-3, 7-5 at No. 3.
 
"Natalie had a great win today and I am proud of the way she played," said Bazhanova. "Four of the matches went down to the third set. We had our chances, but SFA played better under pressure today."
 
SFA moved up 3-1 when Vivienne Kulicke posted a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Ivanova at No. 4, then ended the match with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 decision at No. 6 by Lorca over Kateryna Piatakova.
 
Larina at No. 1 and Kollarova at No. 5 were engaged in tight third sets when the match was decided, and their competition was halted.
 
NSU will be on the road next weekend at UNO and Southeastern Louisiana, and has its final two home matches April 11-12. Nicholls will visit both NSU and SFA that weekend as the league title could hang on outcomes of those meetings.