Box Score NATCHITOCHES – All eyes in the Southland Conference were affixed to Natchitoches on Sunday to see whether Northwestern State or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi would take a commanding lead in the SLC standings.

The Lady Demons (11-4, 4-0 SLC) answered the bell against a potential championship opponent with a resounding 6-1 victory in which NSU scored the first six points against the Islanders (16-3, 2-1 SLC).

After taking the doubles point by winning the third and deciding match, NSU routed the nationally-ranked Islanders by winning all six first sets in singles and sprinting to the victory.

The Lady Demons have won six straight matches and snapped a nine-match win streak for TAMU-CC, who entered Sunday ranked No. 82.

"I'm so ecstatic for these girls," said NSU coach Jonas Brobeck. "This is the first match where it all came together – where we had three doubles and six singles teams doing exactly what we needed to do and against a very, very good team.

"Our process was unbelievable, and we were able to compete and find ways to win sets. When we got on top of our opponent, we stayed on top."

Freshman Tjasa Klevisar embodied that last statement as she scored NSU's first singles point at No. 2 in a 6-2, 6-1 win against Mariya Shumeika. Klevisar separated in the first set by winning the last three games and built a 4-1 edge in the second set.

Fellow freshman Rozalie Dohnalova faced a 5-2 deficit in the second set before she rattled off five straight games to win 6-1, 7-5 against Emma Aucagne.

Dohnalova recorded her first singles win in Southland Conference play in her most complete match of the season.

"I was trying to push (Aucagne), and she missed some shots, which she doesn't do in other matches," Dohnalova said. "I slowed down in the second set and had to come back.

"I think I did play my best match, and I played how I was supposed to play after not feeling great on the court in the last couple of matches."

The clinching point came from sophomore Viktorie Wojcikova in a 6-4, 6-2 win against Leopoldine Boisseau at No. 5. Wojcikova took the last three games of the second set to sew up the match.

Throughout the match, the crowd roared as points finished, lending a championship-type atmosphere to a key SLC match.

"Thank you so much to the community for coming out on a Sunday morning because the atmosphere makes such a difference," Brobeck said. "It's very tough to come in here and beat us when the atmosphere is like this.

"This is how we create the family atmosphere that we have here at Northwestern State, and we hope that they feel like they are a big part of this win as well because they are."

NSU added points at No. 4 as Ayu Ishibashi was able to counter AMCC Emma Honore's power in a 7-5, 6-2 victory and at No. 3 where Mariella Minetti outlasted Camille Townsend (7-5, 4-6, 12-10).

Minetti trailed 5-4 in the first set before gutting out a 7-5 win.

The Islanders scored the final point of the match at No. 6 as Kateryna Rublevska edged Patrycja Polanska (3-6, 6-4, 10-6).

Polanska battled leg cramps during the tiebreaker in heat that touched the 80s.

NSU claimed the doubles point despite dropping its first doubles match in seven matches (swept the previous six team matches).

Klevisar/Minetti constructed a 5-1 lead and held off Shumeika/Townsend 6-4 to clinch the point.

AMCC's No. 3 pair (Boisseau/Rublevska) got on the board first with a 6-3 win against Ishibashi/Polanska.

NSU responded with a 6-3 decision at No. 2 as Dohnalova/Wojcikova bested AMCC's Aucagne/Honore.

The Lady Demons have two SLC matches remaining starting April 3 at McNeese before returning home to face Nicholls on April 9.