BATON ROUGE -- First-year coach Freddy Gomez may have only seen his tennis team practice for two days this month because of wintry weather, but Gomez is comforted by having five players with a combined eight seasons of Northwestern State experience.


The Lady Demon tennis team begins its spring season this weekend with matches at No. 22 LSU on Saturday and Tulane on Sunday.


"Obviously we've experienced the cold weather and haven't been able to practice like we've wanted, but we've been able to do other things like prepare mentally and with physical fitness," Gomez said. "Our players were home for winter break and practiced, so the winter weather this week shouldn't matter much.


"This team is very eager to get the season started and for the bad weather to go away."


The unusual snow and ice shouldn't have been uncommon to NSU's two most experienced players – Russian natives Polina Ivanova and Polina Mutel.


The senior and junior, respectively, have a combined five seasons in Natchitoches and have emerged as leaders on and off the court.


"It feels like we're back to step one in a sense because I'm new, but the two Polinas are the clear leaders and play with confidence," Gomez said. "Even though we're still trying to get know each other, you can definitely tell that the team looks up to them.


"We don't know how the lineup will shake out yet, but we're trying to establish our philosophy and expectations."


Gomez's expectations for his Lady Demons won't veer from NSU's past success as a program that's appeared in four of the last five Southland Conference Tournament championships – winning in  2013 and 2015.


As an assistant coach, Gomez has helped build Virginia Tech into a top 30 program nationally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association with the help of two top-16 recruiting classes.


Gomez led Louisiana Tech to its best-ever conference finish and to a No. 14 recruiting class nationally in his only season in 2013.


"Everybody knows we're expecting to do well and hopefully compete for and win another conference tournament," Gomez said. "The rest is just being consistent, following the philosophy of our program and putting the new things into place.



"We have to follow the process without getting too far ahead. Good things are already in place, and I hope to add things I do well. We want to commit to that process for the entire season. We cannot control the outcome, but we can control what we do every day."


The 2017 team lost in the SLC quarterfinals after a 6-5 league mark, the program's 10^th consecutive winning record in conference play.
Ivanova and Mutel were members of the 2016 squad that made the SLC Tournament Finals, while Ivanova is the only Lady Demon left from a 2015 championship team that made the NCAA Tournament.


The senior Ivanova returns as NSU's primary No. 1 in singles after posting an 8-7 mark in that slot in 2017.


Mutel compiled a team-best 12-6 record in singles play with 10 of those victories in the No. 3 position.


The Yaroslavl, Russia, native will likely move to the No. 2 slot after the departure of Iryna Vardanian (9-3 in No. 2 position).


Other Lady Demon returners who played extensively include Emilija Dancetovic, Judit Castillo and Kateryna Avram.


Dancetovic compiled a 6-7 mark as the No. 4 singles player, while Castillo excelled in the back end with a combined 12-3 mark in the No. 5 and No. 6 slots. Avram primarily filled the No. 6 slot.


Ivanova/Dancetovic produced NSU's best doubles record with an 8-3 mark in the No. 2 slot.


Mutel partnered with Ivanova and Vardanian in the top doubles position, including a 3-2 effort with Ivanova at the top.
Castillo also played in the No. 2 spot, recording a 5-3 mark with Vardanian.


Avram posted a 10-8 mark in the No. 3 slot with the now-departed Vladislava Litvinova.


Gomez added that newcomers Patricja Polanska and Rhea Verma could heavily contribute later in the season.


Tulsa transfer Ela Iwaniuk will also add an experience boost after spending one season with the Golden Hurricane.