ABILENE, Tex. – Abilene Christian broke free of a 2-2 deadlock with a pair of three-set singles wins Wednesday to post a 4-2 Southland Conference women's tennis victory over visiting Northwestern State.

The three-setters made the difference in a tight, long battle at the Eager Tennis Pavilion. If the match had been extended, the final singles contest was locked in a 4-4 third-set tie at No. 6 between NSU freshman Alzbeta Veverkova and ACU's Jordan Henry.

ACU improved to 14-5 overall and 4-1 in the Southland while NSU dipped to 7-10 overall, 3-4 in the conference.

With the match tied at 2-2, ACU notched the fifth point with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory at No. 5 singles by Whitney Williams over Barbora Kollarova. The decisive point came at No. 1, where ACU's Erin Walker prevailed 6-1 in the third set over Natalya Krutova after a pair of epic battles, with Walker taking the first set 7-5 and Krutova winning the second set 7-6 with an 8-6 tiebreaker triumph.

After dropping the doubles point, NSU fell behind 2-0 before rallying. Iryna Vardanian posted a 6-3, 6-3 triumph at No. 2 singles and Polina Ivanova won 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 to knot the match 2-2.

"We started pretty slow in doubles and ACU moved and closed very well," said Lady Demons coach Olga Bazhanova. "Iryna played a very good match in singles today. Overall, it was a fight and you can see it in the scores.

"I see improvements in some areas but we need to stay strong and stay tough as we always have.  We need to do the right things consistently and we are not doing this - sometimes is not enough when it comes to the right process," said Bazhanova. "We will be ready to execute the right process consistently this weekend."

The Lady Demons play a pair of conference matches, Saturday at Nicholls and Sunday at McNeese.
 
Abilene Christian 4, Northwestern State 2
Eager Tennis Pavilion, Abilene, Texas

Singles competition
1. Erin Walker (ACU) def. Natalya Krutova  7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1
2. Iryna Vardanian (NSU) def. Kaysie Hermsdorf 6-3, 6-3
3. Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Polina Mutel 6-2, 6-1
4. Polina Ivanova (NSU) def. Nada Marjanovic 6-4, 6-4
5. Whitney Williams (ACU) def. Barbora Kollarova 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6. Jordan Henry (ACU) vs. Alzbeta Veverkova (NSU) 6-3, 4-6, 4-4, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Erin Walker/Whitney Williams (ACU) def. Polina Ivanova/Natalya Krutova 6-3
2. Kaysie Hermsdorf/Lucile Pothier (ACU) vs. Polina Mutel/Iryna Vardanian (NSU) 3-4, unfinished
3. Nada Marjanovic/Andrea Crook (ACU) def. Ilijana Ivic/Barbora Kollarova 6-1

Match Notes:
Northwestern State 7-10 (3-4 SLC)
Abilene Christian 14-5 (4-1 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,2,4,5,1)
T-3:32 A-50