WACO, Texas – Northwestern State fell 4-0 to No. 9 Baylor in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships but not before putting up a fight from the Hurd Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Demons conclude their season at 16-9 while the Bears improved to 26-6 and advanced to face Rice at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The NCAA postseason appearance was the third in six years for an NSU squad that won the Southland Conference Tournament to receive the league's automatic bid.
"I think we competed and gave a very good fight today," first-year Lady Demons head coach Olga Bazhanova said. "I give credit to Baylor. They were just better today."
In doubles play, NSU's Tatiana Larina and Natalya Krutova put on a show on the No. 1 court, taking a 5-4 lead on the Bears' No. 62-ranked nationally tandem of Ema Burgic and Rachael James-Baker before the set went unfinished at 6-5 in favor of Baylor. The NSU duo finished the season at 19-1.
Meanwhile, NSU's Kateryna Piatakova and Polina Ivanova fell 8-1 to the No. 42-ranked pair of Kellye Anderson and Leolia JeanJean on Court 2. The Lady Demons' No. 3 pairing of Aliona Ladutska and Emily Kerr battled back from a 6-3 deficit to make things interesting at 7-5 before the Bears' grabbed the final point-clinching game.
"We hung in there in doubles play," Bazhanova said. "We could have played better but didn't. Baylor took the momentum and pushed us in singles."
Baylor scored its first singles point behind a 6-4, 6-1 victory from No. 113 Anderson against Piatakova.
The Bears' Burgic, the No. 22 player nationally, defeated Larina, 6-2, 6-0 on the first court for Baylor's third point. The NSU senior finished sixth in program-history in singles wins with 56.
The match-clinching win took place on Court 3, as NSU's Ladutska fell to Shankle by a tally of 6-1, 6-2.
With just two seniors on the squad in Larina and Amy Williams, Bazhanova believes the experience was beneficial to the youthful unit and was more than the score indicated
.
"It was a little pressure, especially for our freshmen who haven't had experience at this level," Bazhanova said. "They handled it well. The score on the courts can't tell us everything about the game. I think we did a good job today and it was a good season for us."