SAN ANTONIO – On Sunday afternoon, freshman
Emilija Dancetovic capped a furious rally for the Northwestern State women's tennis team, supplying the Lady Demons their fifth-straight victory in a 4-3 win over Texas San Antonio.
After falling behind 0-2 early in the match, NSU (5-3) pieced together wins on courts two, three and six to even the score at 3-3. Clinching the comeback for the Lady Demons (5-3) was freshman
Emilija Dancetovic with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win on court four.
Dancetovic's match clinching point marks the second on the season for the freshman. She secured the win for NSU against Southern Mississippi in the middle of a three-match home stand a week ago.
"Ema (Dancetovic) played tough and showed the character of a lion when she clinched the match for us," head coach
Olga Bazhanova said.
With the win over the Roadrunners (4-2), Northwestern State is now in the midst of a five-match winning streak that began with a 4-0 sweep of UL Lafayette.
The Lady Demons quickly fell behind 0-2 with a pair of 6-1 and 6-2 defeats in doubles and a 6-3, 6-3 loss on court one.
Junior
Polina Ivanova was matched up against the No. 118 singles player in the nation, Miriam Rosell Canudas and the Spanish senior flexed her muscles in the straight-set win in the No. 1 singles position.
Northwestern State put together a quick turnaround and took three of the next four matches to give NSU a 3-3 tie.
"I am very proud of this team, Bazhanova said. "After losing the doubles point we came out strong and aggressive in singles. UTSA played tough and we had to earn every point to get the win."
Sophomore
Iryna Vardanian began that swing in momentum for the Lady Demons as she extended her team-best singles winning streak to six with a 6-3, 6-1 win in singles position No. 2 over Denisa Ibrahimovic.
Sophomore
Polina Mutel evened the score at 2-2 with a dominating 6-3, 6-0 performance on court three against the Roadrunners' Lina Hallgren.
"Our returners played strong and I am very proud the way they lead the team," Bazhanova said.
Freshman
Vladislava Litvinova fell victim to the more experienced Charleen Tiwari in a 6-2, 6-2 loss in the No. 5 singles position.
Setting up Dancetovic for the come-from-behind victory was freshman
Judit Castillo. She evened the score at three-all with a 6-4, 6-3 win against fellow freshman Kylee Kato on court six.
"Judit and Ema (Dancetovic) played with great heart and soul today," Bazhanova said. "The team energy overall was great this weekend."
The Lady Demons will take a weekend off and return to action with a double header against LSU-Alexandria (2-1) and Grambling State (0-4) on Wednesday, March 1.
NSU will then open conference play with another trip to Texas. They will travel to face Sam Houston State (2-6) on Saturday, March 4 and Lamar (3-2) the following day.
Follow updates all season on Twitter @NSUdemonsWTN.
