CONWAY, Ark.—After a successful fall tournament at home, the Northwestern State women's tennis team travels to the campus of Central Arkansas for the two-day UCA Invitational, beginning Friday at the Conway Tennis Center.

In addition to NSU and UCA, athletes from Louisiana Tech, UT Martin and Arkansas will have athletes competing in the tournament.

Third-year women's tennis coach Jonas Brobeck is thrilled to go back on the court for the team to face other competition and is excited to see improvement from the team.

"We are excited for our second fall event up at UCA after two weeks of great practice," Brobeck said. "The ladies have continued to build on the positives from our home tournament and we worked on some details doubles. It's going to be a great event and quality matches is the best way to get better."

It is the second of four fall tournaments for NSU, wrapping up with the ITA Regionals and a tournament at Sam Houston.

Ayu Ishibashi is fresh off a strong opening fall tournament after earning a First Team All-Conference spot in the spring.

She won her draw at the Natchitoches Regional Medical Center Lady Demon Collegiate Invitational. Ishibashi never had to go to a third set and she only allowed more than two games to be won against her in two of the six sets played.

Gig Kanaphuet reached her singles draw's final as well, as did the duo of Paige Wise and Sofi Garcia, each playing in their first matches at NSU.

The pairing of Ishibashi and Dorota Szczygielska finished third in their draw, capping off their tournament with a 6-3 victory against a split team of a member from both UL Monroe and UL Lafayette.

After dropping the first match of her career in NSU's tournament in a super tiebreaker, Garcia rebounded with two consecutive victories to finish the tournament, winning both in straight sets.

The ITA Regional is next for the Lady Demons, beginning Oct. 13.