NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State tennis team jumped to a big lead against Nicholls, one it would not relinquish in a 6-1 victory Friday at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.

A nice crowd came to see NSU (9-4, 2-1) win its second consecutive match and seventh in its last eight as the Lady Demons climbed over the .500 mark in league play.

"The crowd was really helpful today," Emilija Dancetovic said. "It makes a difference when you have a lot of people behind you and cheering for you."

The victory is the eighth consecutive home triumph, which moves into a tie for the eighth-longest home winning streak in program history.

Mariella Minetti continued her strong play with a win in straight sets against Laura Lopez, 6-1, 6-1. Minetti, a freshman from Tampere, Finland, has came out on top in nine of her past 11 matches.

"I felt we played a solid match across the board," head coach Patric DuBois said. "Each player knows what they are supposed to do in each individual match and they executed well."

Nicholls (1-9, 0-3) dropped its eighth match in a row and 16^th of last 17 conference matches, dating to 2018. This is also the sixth straight victory for the Lady Demons against Nicholls.

The afternoon started with NSU cruising to the doubles point. Gig Kanaphuet and Dorota Szczygielska had a dominating 6-0 win against Simona Maksimovic and Mariia Kozachok at the No. 3 spot. That was closely followed by Minetti and Patrycja Polanska running away with a 6-1 win at No. 1 against Carla Bouygues and Lingfeng Gu.

With the score 1-0 entering singles, Dancetovic dominated at No. 6 to give the Lady Demons some separation. She came away with her first singles win of the season 6-0, 6-1 over Kozachok to put NSU in front 2-0.

Overall, four Lady Demons won their singles matches in straight sets. Minetti's was the second singles match to finish and her victory put NSU in front 3-0.

Szczygielska clinched the Lady Demons win with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Maksimovic at No. 2. The triumph is her sixth in seven matches.

Olivia Alfredsson came away with her first victory in league play with a 6-3, 7-5 win against Bouygues at No. 4. Alfredsson found herself down early in the first set before rallying to win the first set, scoring two straight games to finish it off before emerging in a tight second set to give the Lady Demons a 5-0 lead.

Nicholls earned the victory in a super tiebreaker at No. 5 before Patrycja Polanska earned a super tiebreaker win of her own. Polanska won the first set convincingly against Gu before Gu rallied to tie the match with a 6-4 second-set victory.

In the super tiebreaker, Polanska fell behind 5-1 before rallying to win nine of the next 11 points to finish a 6-1 win for NSU. The junior has won six of seven.

The Lady Demons return to action Sunday at 11 a.m. against New Orleans. NSU knocked the Privateers out of the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament in their last meeting.
 
Tennis Match Results
Nicholls vs. Northwestern State
March 6, 2020 at Natchitoches, LA
(Jack Fisher Tennis Complex)
Northwestern State 6, Nicholls 1

Singles
1. Mariella Minetti (NSU) def. Laura Lopez (NICH) 6-1, 6-1
2. Dorota Szczygielska (NSU) def. Simona Maksimovic 6-3, 6-1
3. Patrycja Polanska (NSU) def. Lingfeng Gu 6-2, 4-6, 10-7
4. Olivia Alfredsson (NSU) def. Carla Bouygues 6-3, 7-5
5. Morgan Forshag (NICH) def. Gig Kanaphuet 6-3, 2-6, 10-3
6. Emilija Dancetovic (NSU) def. Mariia Kozachok 6-0, 6-1

Doubles
1. Patrycja Polanska/Mariella Minetti (NSU) def. Lingfeng Gu/Carla Bouygues 6-1
2. Emilija Dancetovic/Olivia Alfredsson (NSU) vs. Morgan Forshag/Laura Lopez UF
3. Dorota Szczygielska/Gig KIanaphut (NSU) def. Simona Maksimovic/Mariia Kozachok 6-0

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (6,1,2,4,5,3)