NATCHITOCHES — After freshman Antonia Blattner's victory over teammate Ela Iwaniuk in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southern Regional championship match, the fall season for the Northwestern State Lady Demon tennis team has concluded.

Veteran head coach Patric DuBois likes what he saw over the past several weeks, beginning with a strong showing at Rice and culminating with a strong showing last weekend at the ITA regional.

"We got to see a lot of different teams from our region and we got to see some players who were not only the best in our region, but some of them are the best in the country (at the ITA Southern Regional)," he said. "So we get to see what they have and we feel like we can compete with anybody in our region. We just have to play at a high level a little more consistently."

Blattner was impressive this fall, playing in three of NSU's four tournaments, winning her draws twice and finishing with a singles record of 9-2.

After not participating at Rice, Blattner began her collegiate career going 3-0 at singles in Lafayette, winning in three sets twice, including the finals match against UL Lafayette's Hoda Habib. In the finals, she won the first match convincingly before dropping set two and rebounding to win the pro set in dominant fashion 10-0.

She saved her best for last in the fall, though. In her five matches in singles at the ITA Southern Regional, Blattner did not lose a set, and won all but three by fewer than three points in any set. Her rain-delayed 6-1, 7-6 victory over Iwaniuk Monday at NSU's Jack Fisher Tennis Complex was the feather in the cap for the freshman on a terrific fall season.

Fellow freshman Maria Skyba also was outstanding in the fall in her first action with NSU. She wasted little time making an impression, winning her singles draws in the first two tournaments she took part in. Overall, she captured all seven matches she finished, at Rice, Lafayette and Ole Miss.

At Rice, in her first tournament with the Lady Demons, Skyba won all three matches, with two coming in straight sets. In the finals, she rolled 6-3, 6-1 over UTSA's Sophie Omoworare.

Following the Rice tournament in which she had a convincing flight 10 victory, Skyba was elevated to draw one at the UL Lafayette tournament and did not disappoint. She fought through it to win her second straight title.

At Lafayette, she was pushed to a pro set in the first two rounds. Against ULL's Floriane Picaut, Skyba dropped the first set, but came back to win to match, including a thrilling 13-11 pro set. In the second round, facing Jasmin Buchta of Lamar, all three sets were won in decisive fashion, with the two splitting the first two sets. Skyba dominated the pro set 10-3 to advance to the finals, where she won in straight sets, although she was pushed to a tiebreaker in set one. She dominated set two for the championship.

After last May's graduation of Polina Ivanova, senior Polina Mutel needed a new doubles partner. She may have found that person in Skyba. The pairing has been in two tournaments together (Rice and the Southern Regional) and made it to the doubles finals at Rice and won the consolation bracket at the regional.

In their first match at Ole Miss, Mutel and Skyba lost a tough 8-4 decision to the reigning NCAA doubles champion tandem, LSU's Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson. Mutel/Skyba rebounded to claim their final four matches to win the consolation bracket. 

Following a hard-fought victory over UL Monroe's Karolina Snita and Maria Emilia Alfaro, Skyba/Mutel won their final three matches solidly with no match being closer than a four-game margin. Their final two wins came against doubles teams from a pair of SEC schools, Auburn and Alabama.

"It's a nice feeling that we finished on a high note," DuBois said. "We had four players in the ITA tournament and did quite well.

"We are going to continue practicing the next four or five weeks. We just want to instill all the good things we've done all semester and be in great shape and confident when we end the semester so we can come back in the spring ready to go."

The spring season starts for the Lady Demons Jan. 11 at the SMU Metroplex Mania Invitational in Dallas.