CONWAY, Arkansas— The Northwestern State women's tennis team needs two wins to claim at least a share of the Southland Conference championship and must overcome two strong opponents, the first coming Saturday on the road at Central Arkansas.

NSU (14-6 overall, 8-1 in the Southland) visits UCA (12-5, 5-3) Saturday at 11 a.m., then a week later hosts two-time defending conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (12-6, 7-1) to finish the 11-match regular-season Southland schedule.

The Lady Demons, McNeese (14-3, 9-1) and AMCC are the contenders for the league crown. McNeese is scheduled to wrap up its regular season Saturday against Nicholls (11-9, 2-7).

AMCC (which lost to McNeese, who was beaten by the Lady Demons) hosts Abilene Christian (12-7, 6-3, and the only team to defeat NSU) and faces UCA next Friday before wrapping up at NSU.

Senior Polina Ivanova has the opportunity to increase her ninth-place Lady Demon career singles ranking by a notch, but this weekend can only be a stepping stone. With a 53-25 record, she must defeat two more singles opponents to move up in the all-time top 10.

This season, Judit Castillo is on top in Lady Demon singles with an 11-3 overall mark in the No. 5 slot. Ivanova and Polina Mutel have NSU's best doubles record, 13-2 in the No. 1 position.

Mindful of the implications of their remaining matches, the Lady Demons reflect on improving match by match and implementing those progressions into the tail of the schedule.

After a challenging start in non-conference play, NSU has won 13 of its last 15 matches.

"We've come to really know each other where there's a lot of nonverbal communication on the court," said head coach Patric DuBois. "We just know what we're going to do out there. We have a process we follow in doubles, and I think all three (doubles) teams have been doing that the way we hope they will, and it's provided some good results."

In the matches leading into league play, the Lady Demons battled nerves, especially at home, but since DuBois has seen substantial improvement.

"They've also grown in their confidence. We have a goal to win the Southland Conference every year, and that could be words, or it could be actions. They've shown through actions so far this year that they're really serious about doing that," he said.

"So, I think we've grown on the court in what we do, and we're ready to see what we can do this Saturday."

NSU has faced the Sugar Bears in its last three visits to the Southland Conference Tournament, advancing to the next round in the 2015 and 2016 contests.

UCA defeated the Lady Demons 5-2 in their 2017 regular-season meeting and ended their season with a 4-2 victory in the quarterfinals round of the league tournament.

"I think they have everybody back from last year, and they're a very good team," DuBois said. "They're one of several teams in our conference that I believe can win our Southland Conference (tournament) championship.

"It's always a tough match against them, but I think we're really confident as a team right now in the way we're playing. We're getting along great on the court, so we expect to play well and for the better team that particular day to win."

NSU will host its regular-season concluder against A&M-Corpus Christi next Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.