NATCHITOCHES – Pulling out a hard-fought doubles point created a decisive surge of momentum for visiting Nicholls State Friday, as the visitors stayed in prime contention for the Southland Conference women's tennis championship Friday while hampering the bid to repeat by defending champion Northwestern State.
 
Nicholls (16-4 overall, 6-1 in the Southland) stormed through singles to close out the match 4-0 at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex, dumping the Lady Demons to 10-8 overall and 6-2 in the Southland with three league regular-season matches remaining. Nicholls will visit league-leader Stephen F. Austin Saturday.

"It was a tough loss today but give credit to Nicholls. They were more consistent and played aggressive tennis," said first-year Lady Demons coach Olga Bazhanova.
 
Saturday morning, NSU will wrap up its home schedule with a 11 a.m. match against another high-ranked Southland foe, McNeese State. Lady Demon seniors Tatiana Larina and Amy Williams will be honored in a 10:40 ceremony prior to their last home competition.

"We appreciate all the people who come out to support the girls," said Bazhanova, "and we hope to see a lot of fans out there (Saturday) for the Senior Day ceremony and the match."
 
Larina and doubles teammate Natalya Krutova provided the Lady Demons' only win Friday and kept the home team in contention for the doubles point. They squared the doubles score with an 8-4 victory in the No. 1 position, making them a perfect 8-0 in the Southland and 13-1 overall.

"Tatiana and Natalie had a good win in the No. 1 spot today," said Bazhanova.
 
But in a 70-minute battle, Marie Aubert and Milou Pietersz of Nicholls won the last four games In the No. 2 match to topple Polina Ivanova and Kateryna Piatakova 8-4, giving the Colonels the doubles point.
 
Aubert made it 2-0 for the visitors with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles over Aliona Ladutska. Nicholls' Stephanie Barnett defeated Larina 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 position, and Isla Brock closed out the match beating Piatakova 6-2, 6-0 at No. 6.
 
The remaining singles matches were not completed.

"We didn't anticipate well in doubles, and let them push us back in singles," said Bazhanova. "It's going to be another tough match (Saturday) and we have to play better to win."
 
McNeese (10-6, 6-2) fell 4-2 at SFA Friday afternoon.

Match results Friday - Nicholls 4, NSU 0