NEW ORLEANS – Northwestern State may not have scored a point in a 4-0 loss at TCU to end its first weekend, but the Lady Demons are aiming to take the competitiveness with which they played on the road to Tulane on Saturday. 

NSU (1-1) lost one doubles match in the tiebreaker and another 7-5 before the Lady Demons won at least four games in five of the six singles sets in the top three slots against TCU. 

Sophomore Mariella Minetti won the first set at the No. 3 position against Stevie Kennedy before Kennedy won the second and was up 2-1 in the third set when the Horned Frogs clinched the win. 

"Mariella picked up where she left off in the fall, and that's very exciting to see," said NSU coach Jonas Brobeck. "She not only prepared well but did a good job during the break to maintain where she was and focused on the details. 

"I thought everybody got better in the TCU match, and we competed and fought against a really good school." 

Newcomers Rozalie Dohnalova and Tjasa Klevisar challenged in the top two spots with Dohnalova falling 6-4, 6-4 and Klevisar lost a tiebreaker 7-6 with the second set tied at 5-5 at the end of the match. 

NSU started the season with a 6-1 against a strong Division II program in UT Tyler. 

The Lady Demons will carry that confidence into a Tulane squad that owns a 22-3 series record against NSU, although the Lady Demons pushed the Green Wave to 4-3 in the last meeting in 2019. 

NSU's last win in the series came in 2009. 

Tulane (1-0) topped Alcorn State in its lone match of the season before its date with LSU was postponed. 

The Lady Demons are testing its depth with a singles lineup that features Minetti at No. 3 (No. 1 slot this past season) and Viktorie Wojcikova at No. 5 (former a No. 2).  

Freshman Ayu Ishibashi (No. 4) joins fellow freshmen Dohnalova and Klevisar in the top four of the rotation in the first weekend, highlighting a recruiting class that was ranked No. 9 among mid-majors by TennisRecruiting.net. 

Brobeck said he's focusing on the degree of development over the course of the season, particularly in the 15 nonconference matches leading into a six-match Southland Conference slate this season. 

"It's still early in the season, and sometimes the most successful teams in the league are teams that develop the most during the season," Brobeck said. "Team that win the tournament usually are the teams that develop the most throughout the season. 

"It's very important to focus on the process of getting better, like cleaning up some things with shot selection and being disciplined and competitive. We do those things and play to our identity, our talent will shine and will be able to compete at the highest level." 

Tulane is the last road match before the Lady Demons make an eight-match homestand which starts with doubleheaders against Loyola on Feb. 5 and LSU-A on Feb. 6.