NATCHITOCHES—Ayu Ishibashi and Gig Kanaphuet reached the finals in their singles draws, headlining a successful day for the Northwestern State women's tennis team on the first day of the Natchitoches Regional Medical Center Lady Demon Collegiate Classic on Friday.

Ishibashi rolled to her finals, defeating Yeva Kamarova of Tyler Junior College 6-3, 6-2, before blowing into the finals by dominating 6-2, 6-0, over UL Lafayette's Luci Raquin. She'll play UL Monroe's Alice Klinteby in the finals.

Kanaphuet dominated in the first round against UL Monroe's Tamara Bachmann before winning 6-4, 6-3, against Saga Koch. She'll have a tough matchup against UL Lafayette's Momoko Yoshimura in the finals, as she has only dropped seven games in two sweeps.

"It was a successful first day for the Lady Demons," head coach Jonas Brobeck said. "We got a lot of quality matches against good opponents, which is always the main priority throughout the fall.
"We have some things we need to build on for tomorrow, however we are pleased with seeing things we've worked on at practice translate into matches."

Paige Wise will play for third place in her draw after winning her first match against UL Monroe's Oleksandra Balaba 6-2, 6-1 and falling in the semis against Alyssa Richter.

The pairing of Ishibashi and Dorota Szczygielska reached the second round of the doubles competition with a 6-2 win over UL Monroe.

Kanaphuet and Renske Ubachswon their first match in the round robin 6-2 over Tyler Junior College.

They continue with day two on Saturday morning in Natchitoches.