DENTON, Texas — Coming off its first two wins of the season, the Northwestern State women's tennis team aims to make it three in a row at North Texas on Saturday.
The contest begins at noon.

NSU (2-1) swept LSU-Alexandria this past Saturday for its first two wins of the season, winning a combined 13-1.

The team has won two straight after losing to LSU. In 2019, the team lost the opener to Tulane before winning six consecutive matches.

This is the third contest out of four UNT (3-0) has played against Southland Conference competition, defeating Stephen F. Austin and Lamar prior, including a dominant 6-1 win against the Cardinals last time out. The Mean Green has allowed just two points against them so far this season.

"We have a tough battle against UNT on Saturday," head coach Patric DuBois said. "They are very well-coached and consistently compete for championships in Conference USA."

The 3-0 start for the Mean Green is the first such start to a season in more than 15 years.

This is the 18^th all-time meeting between the two schools with the Mean Green owning a 9-8 edge, including a 4-0 victory last season in Denton. UNT has won eight of the previous 10 matchups.

Freshman Olivia Alfredsson has enjoyed a strong start to her Lady Demon career. After taking 2019 Louisiana Player of the Year Eden Richardson of LSU to a tiebreaker, Alfredsson dominated her opponents at the No. 4 spot in the rotation in the sweep of LSU-Alexandria. In singles, she won both matches and only lost one game combined in the two matches.

Being a newcomer, there can be some challenges going from playing in Sweden to the United States.

"It's a big difference playing here," Alfredsson said. "Over here, we play as a team and I receive so much support from other teammates."

Judit Castillo Gargallo, one of three seniors for NSU, enters action tied for 20^th in program history for singles matches in Lady Demon history with 44 after her sweep against LSUA. Fellow senior Ela Iwaniuk earned two more singles victories to improve her career win total to 33 in just over two years.

Iwaniuk and senior Emilija Dancetovic have formed a terrific duo at No. 1 doubles, winning in convincing fashion both matches against LSUA after taking LSU to the wire in the opener. Dancetovic is knocking on the door of the top 25 in doubles victories with 36, being just two shy.

At the top spot in the rotation, freshman Mariella Minetti rebounded with a pair of wins against LSUA. She dominated both first sets 6-1 and pulled through in both second sets to sweep both matches.
The No. 6 spot was played by newcomer Gig Kanaphuet earned her first career victory against LSUA.

"We are very pleased with the way our girls are progressing early in the spring," DuBois said. "We feel the match will simply come down to execution."

This is the first of three consecutive road contests for the Lady Demons, which next return home Feb. 14 for a matchup with Alcorn.