CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In the first leg of a two-match road trip, the Northwestern State women's tennis team fell 5-2 to Southland Conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon.
 
The 12 p.m. first serve started the right way for the Lady Demons (12-7, 5-4) as they swept all three doubles matches to take the opening point against the Southland's first-place Islanders (14-2, 7-1).
 
Freshmen Emilija Dancetovic and Kateryna Avram rolled in their match against the Islanders' Marina Miquel and Kerry Galhos, winning 6-1.
 
Courts one and two were tightly contested, but still yielded the same outcome.
 
Junior Polina Ivanova and sophomore Polina Mutel held off Jelena Dzinic and Judit Vives in the No. 1 position with a 6-4 victory.
 
Sophomore Iryna Vardanian and freshman Judit Castillo gutted out a tough win in the No. 2 position against Hortense Boscher and Louise Trigona. The most successful Lady Demons' doubles pairing triumphed, posting a 7-5 victory.
 
"We have to work for every point with intensity and stick with the process we talk about all the time," head coach Olga Bazhanova said. "Every match is important and we have to do better at staying in the present time and not think what might happen."
 
TAMU-CC flipped the script in singles, picking up quick wins on courts one and six in which the Islanders only dropped three combined games to take the 2-1 lead.

"We weren't patient enough and Corpus pushed us back today," Bazhanova said. "They are very well coached and played physical every point."
The Islanders never looked back, picking up three more wins on courts five, four and two to clinch the victory.
 
Mutel earned the final point of the match for the Lady Demons, winning due to retirement on court three. Mutel and Vives were deadlocked 1-1 in the tie-break set to decide the winner when Vives suffered an injury forcing her out of competition.
 
"We had opportunities and a lot of close matches," Bazhanova said. "We did a lot of positive things on the court today and we have to focus on that to be successful in the next match."

The Lady Demons will visit Incarnate Word on Sunday for their final road match of the season. First serve is set for 11 a.m. in San Antonio.
 

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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5, Northwestern State 2

Singles competition:
1. Hortense Boscher (AMCC) def. Iryna Vardanian 6-1, 6-0
2. Jelena Dzinic (AMCC) def. Polina Ivanova 3-6, 6-2, 10-5
3. Polina Mutel (NSU) def. Judit Vives 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), retired
4. Louise Trigona (AMCC) def. Emilija Dancetovic 6-2, 6-4
5. Maria Maldonado (AMCC) def. Judit Castillo 7-5, 6-1
6. Marina Vicens Miquel (AMCC) def. Kateryna Avram 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition:
1. Polina Ivanova/Polina Mutel (NSU) def. Jelena Dzinic/Judit Vives 6-4
2. Iryna Vardanian/Judit Castillo (NSU) def. Hortense Boscher/Louise Trigona 7-5
3. Emilija Dancetovic/Kateryna Avram (NSU) def. Marina Vicens Miquel/Kerry Galhos 6-1
Match Notes:
Northwestern State 12-7, 5-4
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14-2, 7-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,1,5,4,2,3)