NATCHITOCHES – Armed with a short-handed roster, the Northwestern State tennis team knew it was going to have to fight a little harder Saturday in its 2022 home opener.
 
The Lady Demons not only did that, they finished the fight and finished off visiting Loyola-New Orleans, 6-1, at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.
 
"I'm super proud of the girls today, especially Pati (Patryjca) Polanska," head coach Jonas Brobeck said. "It was her first singles match in over a year. I'm so proud of her coming back from injury. It was great seeing her back competing. It really makes the coaching staff happy to see that."
 
Polanska blitzed Loyola's Ana Castillo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0 – one of four straight-set wins for the Lady Demons (2-2), who had only five healthy players.
 
Buoyed by her emotional return, Polanska showed little rust in the victory at No. 5 singles.
 
"I was nervous, but it was more from the excitement," Polanska said. "I was so excited to be back on the court with my team. I had a lot of energy that kept me focused on every ball."
 
In addition to Polanska, three other Lady Demons – No. 1 Rozalie Dohnalova, No. 3 Mariella Minetti and No. 4 Viktorie Wojcikova – scored straight-set victories. It was Wojcikova's 6-2, 6-3 win against Elly Carpenter that sewed up NSU's home-opening victory, but it was the lone three-set match of the day that kept Brobeck smiling.
 
At No. 2 singles, freshman Tjasa Klevisar dropped the first set to Fatima Vasquez, 6-2, and trailed 5-3 in the second set before rallying for a 7-5 second-set win to force a third-set tiebreaker.
 
Klevisar quickly fell down 2-0 and 4-2 in the tiebreaker but rattled off five of the next six points and walked away with a 10-6 win in the third set, allowing the Lady Demons to sweep all five singles matches that were played.
 
Loyola's Isabella Leano earned a forfeit win at No. 6 singles for the 1-3 Wolf Pack's lone point.
 
The comeback win not only capped a good day for the Lady Demons as a whole, it bookended a busy day for Klevisar, who teamed with Minetti at No. 1 singles to defeat Lucy Carpenter and Vasquez, 6-4, to clinch the doubles point following Wojcikova and Dohnalova's 6-3 win against Selma Fereres and Elly Carpenter.
 
"T is a freshman, and it was her first home match as a Lady Demon," Brobeck said. "It's a big adjustment for a freshman, but she's a very good player. What I talked about earlier with the team, she started on the back foot, but she never gave up and found a way. It's a sign of confidence and strength to be down one, two feet in the grave and find a way. She did and capped a good day."
 
NSU continues its five-match homestand Feb. 12 when it hosts Texas State in the first of back-to-back home matches on the weekend.