CONWAY, Ark. – After a rugged non-conference schedule, the young Northwestern State women's tennis team begins the key part of its season Sunday morning when it opens Southland Conference play at Central Arkansas.
 
The Lady Demons are 1-6. A much-improved UCA squad beat Stephen F. Austin 5-2 Saturday to improve to 6-3 overall, 1-1 in SLC competition.
 
The match starts at 9:30. The Lady Demons will play a non-conference contest Sunday afternoon at UCA against Division II Arkansas Tech.
 
"We expect challenges and good competition in both matches," said second-year NSU coach Olga Bazhanova. "UCA is a young and talented team. We have to play well to win and stick with the right process from the beginning. Our girls are excited and looking forward to this weekend on the road."
 
Bazhanova and her squad are undaunted by the slow start to the season. It mirrors one in out-of-conference play at the outset of last spring, but NSU used that experience to make a strong run in the Southland season, finishing third in the regular season and sweeping through the conference tournament to make a third NCAA Tournament appearance this decade.
 
This year's squad has four newcomers adjusting to Division I tennis, along with senior Natalya Krutova, who is edging up on the NSU career wins charts in singles and doubles. She is ninth in singles wins with a 52-18 record and can tie or pass Babette Cramer (53-36 ending in 1988). She is also ninth in doubles (56-13) and can move to seventh past Barbara Tons (57-13 from1986-89) and Adna Curukovic (57-26 from 2008-11).
 
Freshman Polina Mutel has the team's top singles mark, 4-3 in the No. 3 position. Krutova's 3-2 mark at No. 1 doubles is NSU's best.
 
After Sunday's matches, the Lady Demons come home for a busy stretch of four matches in four days, beginning Friday against Air Force at 2 p.m. at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex. NSU will host Incarnate Word and A&M-Corpus Christi during the homestand.