CONWAY, Arkansas – Saturday, the Northwestern State tennis team takes to Conway, Arkansas, for its final Southland Conference road match of the season, marking the final meeting between the two as conference foes at the UCA Tennis Courts.  

NSU (5-6, 4-4) begins competition Saturday against Central Arkansas (11-10, 6-2) at 11 a.m.  The Lady Demons face the Bears following a split weekend at Stephen F. Austin (4-3 victory) and Sam Houston (6-1 defeat). UCA enters the weekend following two conference victories at Stephen F. Austin and at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  

Entering the week and the final month of regular season play, the Lady Demons have emphasized striking a balance between recovery and practice. They've also focused primarily on their strengths as a team and as individual competitors. 

"We took a couple of days after last weekend to rest up and heal," head coach Jonas Brobeck said. "Then we got back to practice and focused largely on some specific things in doubles that we could improve upon, and some small technical improvements on an individual level." 

The 2021 season has proven to be an exercise in maintaining energy for the Lady Demons. They're learning how to not only build positive energy on the court, but also maintain it throughout an entire season. 

"A player's energy translates to attitude and body language, which has a direct and immediate effect on their game," Brobeck said. "I think we have done a great job this season of establishing our energy on the court and making our presence known early. The real challenge lies in maintaining that energy. When we've done that successfully, we've proven to be a very difficult opponent to overcome." 

In their brief competitive history, NSU has compiled a 12-5 overall edge against UCA. It has been 707 days since the two teams last competed against one another. Their last matchup, which occurred in the Southland Conference tournament semifinals, resulted in a 4-0 victory for UCA.