HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Natalya Krutova remained perfect in Southland Conference play Sunday, winning in doubles and singles as Northwestern State cruised to a 5-2 win at Sam Houston State in the penultimate match of the Lady Demons' regular season.
 
NSU (12-8 overall, 8-2 in the Southland) visits Lamar Monday at 11 to wrap up the schedule. The Lady Demons will be back in Beaumont for the Southland Tournament beginning Friday, hoping for their third NCAA berth with a tournament win this decade.
 
Sustaining momentum for that competition is the priority now for NSU since it fell one win shy of defending the regular-season title, which was clinched Sunday by Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin, the only teams to defeat the Lady Demons in league play this year.
 
Krutova and Tatiana Larina raised their Southland record to 10-0 (15-1 overall) at No. 1 doubles with an 8-4 victory over Olivia Battye and Karen Martinez. Krutova rolled 6-2, 6-2 in No. 2 singles over Battye to go 10-0 in conference competition, 15-4 overall.
 
Larina took sole possession of seventh on the Lady Demons' career singles list with her 54^th victory, a 6-4, 6-3 triumph at No. 1 over Fabienne Gettwart. The doubles win pushed her into a tie with coach Olga Bazhanova for fourth on that career list at 64.
 
NSU's other singles victories came at No. 4 by Polina Ivanova (6-4, 6-2 over Martinez) and at No. 5 from Kateryna Piatakova (6-3, 4-1 retired over Maddie Mortimore).
 
Emily Kerr and Aliona Ladutska's 8-3 decision in the No. 3 doubles started the match right for the Lady Demons.
 
Bazhanova was pleased with her team's response against a struggling SHSU squad (2-15, 1-9) with every win vital for seeding purposes for the conference tournament.
 
"It's an important win for us. We knew that it was not going to be easy," she said, "and the girls played to win today. We played aggressive at all of the positions and I am proud the way the girls competed. We got very good process and good tennis from Polina and Kate today. They executed very well."

NSU 5, SHSU 2 - match results