SAN MARCOS, Texas – The lone day of doubles play at the River State Shoot-Out was a busy one for the Northwestern State tennis team.
 
The pairing of sophomore Martina Acebedo Bonocore and freshman Zala Vnuk won their first match of the tournament before dropping their final two Friday.
 
The Lady Demon duo started the day with a 6-3 victory against the host team duo of Juliette Jalai and Julia Richardet before dropping a 6-3 decision to Texas State's Kinley VanPelt and Avery Arant.
 
Bonocore and Vnuk then fell 6-3 to Troy's Lamiss Haouas and Emili Namysio, 6-3, in their final match of the day.
 
Vnuk's fellow freshman, Nico Tagami, teamed with New Mexico State's Mariella Gelbke, falling to Jalai and Richardet, 6-3, in Tagami's lone match of the day.
 
Fourth-year head coach Marcos Morelli said he was pleased with the approach shown by Northwestern's three competitors.
 
"I feel after last weekend in Houston (at the Rice Invitational), the team got in a mood of, 'Let's get better,'" Morelli said. "This weekend, they've tried to get better. They've done the right things. They had good energy. They were coachable. They were trying to do the right things.
 
"Our opponents executed better, and that's fine, because that means we need to continue practicing and continue improving. I'm happy that we, as a team, are on the same page of needing to improve our execution, but at least we don't have to get better in energy and body language. Those were much better."
 
The tournament resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday with the first day of singles play. Tagami is scheduled to fac Richardet at 1 p.m. while Vnuk will face Hiba Heni of Troy in her first match of the day.
 
Tagami also is slated to face Namysio later Saturday.