NATCHITOCHES – It was a perfect Senior Day for Northwestern State women's tennis veterans Tatiana Larina and Amy Williams, whose four seasons have featured 32 Southland Conference wins, including Saturday's 4-1 decision over a good McNeese State team at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.
 
NSU (11-8 overall, 7-2 in the Southland) fed off an emotional pre-match ceremony with poignant remarks by Larina, who ranks among the winningest players in school history, and Williams, the 2014 Southland Conference Steve McCarty Citizenship Award women's winner whose career was cut short by hip surgery.
 
Larina and Natalya Krutova remained unbeaten in Southland play at No. 1 doubles with an 8-3 victory over Julia Kral and Hannah Brett. Krutova's 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Kral in the No. 2 singles match clinched the overall outcome.  McNeese slipped to 10-7 overall, 6-3 in the Southland.
 
The Lady Demons have two regular-season matches remaining, at Lamar and Sam Houston next weekend, and still have a mathematical chance to defend their 2014 Southland regular-season crown. Nicholls knocked Stephen F. Austin from the unbeaten ranks Saturday with a 4-3 win, leaving those teams tied, each with one loss, with one weekend of play remaining. NSU is in third place, one back.
 
"It's an important win and I am so proud of the girls after a tough day yesterday (in a 4-0 home loss to Nicholls)," said first-year coach Olga Bazhanova. "They knew they had to step it up physically and emotionally on court and they certainly met the challenge today."
 
Polina Ivanova and Kateryna Piatakova handed NSU the doubles point, besting Sarah Jurakova and Vivien Borbely 8-6.
 
Larina picked up a quick win in the No. 1 singles when Klaudia Gawlik defaulted after three games. Ivanova made it 3-0 NSU with a 6-1, 6-3 decision at No. 4 over Borbely, before Jurakova supplied McNeese's only point with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Barbora Kollarova in the No. 5 match.
 
Krutova polished off Kral to settle the outcome with the two remaining matches still very much in doubt.
 
"We used the momentum in singles after winning the doubles point," said Bazhanova. "On Senior Day, in front of our great fans, our team showed great determination to get the win."

Match results - NSU 4, McNeese 1