AUBURN, Ala. – Northwestern State gets an early start to the fall tennis season this weekend as the Lady Demons, led by senior captain Andrea Nedorostova, join nine other teams in the Auburn Women's Tennis Tournament.
 
The event at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn will include entries from Mississippi State, Tulane, Georgia Southern, Louisiana-Lafayette, Chattanooga, Houston, Lamar, Kennesaw State and Auburn, along with NSU. Competition will be in flights in single and doubles, with two rounds of singles and one round of doubles on Friday, and one singles round and two doubles rounds Saturday.
 
“We are starting our tournament play a little sooner than we have in the past,” said head coach Patric DuBois. “We've only been practicing for a week as a team, but all the girls came back from summer in great shape. They've been working hard and getting used to the heat.”
 
Lady Demon veterans in action are headed by Nedorostova and last year's Southland Conference and Louisiana Freshman of the Year, Tatiana Larina, along with first-team All-Southland singles performer Polina Konop. Also competing at Auburn among the returning players for NSU are sophomores Olga Leyshyna and Amy Williams. Newcomers making their collegiate debuts for the Lady Demons are Ukrainian freshman Natalya Krutova and freshman Daniela Simonova of the Czech Republic.
 
“We want to use this weekend to get some very good match play and see how our girls compete against some strong opponents under some very tough conditions,” said DuBois. “The girls are excited for their first trip of the season and I expect us to have some solid results.”
 
Next weekend, the Lady Demons will not compete while hosting the Natchitoches Women's Care Lady Demon Tennis Classic Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.
 
Their next action comes Sept. 28-30 at the Stephen F. Austin Invitational.  After the Louisiana-Lafayette Invitational Oct. 5-6, NSU will host the Lady Demon Invite on Oct. 12-14.