HOUSTON – The second fall tournament for the Northwestern State tennis team opens Friday with a similar opportunity as the first with a couple of slight differences.
 
The Lady Demons hit the road for the first time this fall, traveling to Houston to take part in the Rice Invite at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. Northwestern's second of six fall tournaments is a three-day affair that begins Friday morning and runs through Sunday.
 
It is the first of three straight trips to Texas across the next four weeks for the Lady Demons.
 
"Last weekend, we were reminded of the importance of playing matches," fourth-year head coach Marcos Morelli said of the fall season-opening Lady Demon Invitational. "There are some things you can only practice, feel and experience in competition. This is another opportunity for us to have those feelings, to practice those things and for the girls to be put in those situations."
 
Three Lady Demons went unbeaten in singles play during the Lady Demon Invitational, including freshmen Nico Tagami and Zala Vnuk.
 
The opening weekend, however, was beneficial for every member of the roster who competed in the tournament.
 
"We had three returners compete last week, and more than one expressed how she felt about the lack of competition in the last couple of months," Morelli said. "It's important for us to get as many matches as possible. What I like most about last weekend was how we got better."
 
Part of that improvement was battling through adversity.
 
All five of the Demons' singles competitors weathered some type of challenge in singles play while the doubles pairings of Martina Acebedo Bonocore and Athina Grigoriadou and Tagami and Vnuk did the same.
 
"The margins are very small," Morelli said. "You lose your focus just a bit, you drop your intensity just a bit and the score will adjust quickly to that. (Last) weekend, the girls noticed that. It was a perfect way for them to realize that what we talk about in practice in those terms is really important."