By: Doug Ireland/Sports Information Director
NATCHITOCHES – Senior Natalya Krutova earned a spot on the All-Southland Conference tennis team for the fourth straight season, joined by her doubles teammate sophomore Polina Ivanova, as the league's top players were honored Wednesday.
Two more Lady Demons were honorable mention selections, the No. 2 doubles tandem of freshmen Iryna Vardanian and Polina Mutel.
NSU (11-10 overall) tied for third in the 13-team Southland standings with a 7-4 conference record. The Lady Demons are the third seed in the Southland Tournament beginning Friday in Nacogdoches, Texas, and will play No. 6 Southeastern Louisiana at 11 a.m. in the opening round.
Krutova and Ivanova were second-team selections at No. 1 doubles in voting by head coaches and sports information directors around the conference, who could not vote for players from their own schools. Krutova was also honorable mention at No. 1 singles.
A senior from Sevastopol, Ukraine with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in biology, Krutova is an Academic All-America candidate. She has been a first-team selection in doubles in her first three seasons, and a first-team pick in singles in her last two years.
In her career, NSU has won the Southland Tournament twice, in 2013 and 2015, and reached the NCAA Tournament, while capturing the regular-season Southland championship in 2014 and falling in the conference tournament finals.
The Lady Demons have an overall 61-33 record in her career, including a 33-10 mark in conference regular-season play.
Krutova ranks fifth all-time in school history with 59 dual match singles wins (59-23). She stands tied for third in career doubles wins at 67.
Her 67-15 career doubles record carries a winning percentage of .817, fourth all-time at NSU. Her .720 singles win rate is 11th in school history. She is 9-8 at No. 1 singles and 13-4 at No. 1 doubles this spring.
Ivanova owns a 12-2 doubles mark this season, including 8-1 in conference play. The sophomore from Moscow, Russia leads the Lady Demons with a 13-3 singles mark and is 26-9 in singles in her first two seasons.
Vardnaian and Mutel are 8-2 at No. 2 doubles, 6-2 in Southland play, in their first season at NSU. Mutel is a finance major from Yaraslavl, Russia, with an 11-9 singles mark, all but one match at No. 3, and Vardanian is a business major from Kiev, Ukraine, who is 13-8 in singles, all but one match at No. 2.
