NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State takes its season-high, three-match winning streak into action when it concludes a four-match homestand with contests against Southern Miss on Friday and UTSA on Sunday.
The match against Southern Miss is at 1 p.m., while the one against UTSA will take place at 11 a.m.

"We look forward to competing against two quality Conference USA opponents in Southern Miss and UTSA this weekend," head coach Patric DuBois said.

NSU (5-3) comes off two consecutive sweeps this past weekend against Alcorn and Texas State, triumphing in straight sets in all but two matches in the two contests.

For her efforts this past weekend at the top spot in the Lady Demons singles rotation, freshman Mariella Minetti was named Southland Conference Player of the Week.

Minetti has continued her strong start to the season, winning six of her past seven matches and carries a 6-2 mark into this weekend. Among those wins were victories against the top player from both Houston and Texas State, who are a combined 10-2 this season in matches against opponents outside of Minetti.

Quietly, at the No. 4 position, junior Patrycja Polanska has had a strong start, winning five of her last six. Including the clinching victory at Houston. She is currently on a three-match winning streak.

Like Polanska, Dorota Szczygielska at the No. 3 spot has also won three in a row and has been gaining confidence after dropping the first two in her Lady Demon career. The freshman from Gdynia, Poland, has triumphed in straight sets during all three.

At No. 6, senior Judit Castillo Gargallo has emerged victorious in four of her last five, winning in straight sets in three of them. She has 46 career singles wins, which is tied for 18^th in program history with Monica Isaza (1984-87).

Fellow senior Ela Iwaniuk has won two of her last three and four of her previous six. In the contests she has won this season, the Lady Demons are 5-0. In ones where she has been defeated, NSU is 0-3.
Freshman Olivia Alfredsson is coming off a 2-0 weekend, winning both in straight sets, and enters the weekend at 5-3 overall.

The No. 1 doubles team of Iwaniuk and Emilija Dancetovic enters competition at 3-3 this season. Dancetovic's 37 career doubles victories are 28^th in program history and she is one triumph away from cracking the top 25.

At No. 3 doubles, the tandem of Szczygielska and Castillo Gargallo is unbeaten in three matches.

Southern Miss (5-0) has shut out three of its first five opponents, including sweeping Southland foe Nicholls this past Saturday. Friday's match is the first road contest for the Golden Eagles this season.

USM is led by Katia de la Garza, who is 5-0, including 4-0 at the No. 1 spot. Of those four victories, three have been in straight sets. Sarah Medik is 4-0 at a combination of Nos. 2 and 3 and Monique Burton and Tanit Lopez are each 4-0, playing at the bottom of the singles rotation.

UTSA (4-3) has played four matches against Southland competition already, falling to Sam Houston and beating UIW and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi twice. The Roadrunners are the only team to have beaten TAMUCC this season.

Jasmin Starr is the No. 1 singles player for UTSA and has gone 5-1. The lone senior on the team, Kylee Kato, has also gone 5-1 for the Roadrunners, doing so from the back of the rotation. Freshman Keegan McCain has gone 5-2 this season, doing so mostly from the No. 6 spot.

Following the homestand, NSU begins conference play next Friday when it travels to Corpus Christi for a heavyweight fight against the Islanders. The Lady Demons next return home March 6 for the conference home opener when they take on Nicholls.