NEW ORLEANS – With the regular season nearing a conclusion, the Northwestern State tennis team continues with conference play as it heads down for a road match with New Orleans on Saturday. 

The contest begins at 11 a.m. at the Privateer Tennis Center. 

NSU (9-6, 2-2) is coming off its second conference win of the season. 

The match is a battle for the third seed, as NSU is a half-game behind UNO (6-8, 3-2) with two contests left for the Lady Demons and one for the Privateers following the match. 

Honoka Umeda has shown her skills on the court, recording a 10-1 singles record. 

Sofi Garcia defeated her opponent against Southeastern to capture her sixth straight singles win. 

New Orleans is coming into this match off a 5-2 win over Nicholls. 

The Privateers are led by Laurie Barendse, a sophomore from the Netherlands. 

Barendse has an 8-2 overall singles record in the No. 1 slot, and a 4-1 record in conference. 

Doubles paring Barendse and Ksenia Reznitskaya have an 8-2 record all at the No. 2 position. 

Northwestern State defeated the Privateers 7-0 during the 2023 season, giving NSU an 18-12 lead in the overall series. 

NSU will head to Thibodaux on Tuesday for an 11 a.m. match against Nicholls before returning home to host Texas A&M–Corpus Christi for the final regular season match.