TAHLEQUAH – NSU Women's Tennis will open the 2020 season this weekend with a pair of non-conference matchups. They will face Tarleton State Friday at 2 p.m. in Oklahoma City before traveling to Ouachita Baptist Sunday at noon.

Opening Serve
1. The RiverHawks finished the 2018-19 season with an 8-9 record and a 6-3 record in MIAA action. They qualified for the MIAA Tournament for the seventh straight season.

2. NSU is voted to finish tied for third in the MIAA this season according to the preseason coaches' poll. The RiverHawks are slated to finish tied with Washburn.

3. Senior Tatjana Stoll will lead the RiverHawks this season. The native of Heidelberg, Germany, enters the season ranked third nationally in singles and finished in the ITA Singles Semifinals in the fall.

4. Charity Andrews is entering her second season as head coach. In her first season, she took the RiverHawks to the MIAA Tournament. Before coming to NSU, she had been the head coach of the men's and women's programs at Cowley Community College (Arkansas City, Kan.).

5. Tarleton State is 1-1 this season, beating Texas Wesleyan 6-1 and losing to Tyler Junior College on Saturday. Celia Vaudiau leads the Texans with a 2-0 record this season. Head coach ElianneDouglas-Miron is in her first season, having served for two seasons as the graduate assistant before spending two months as interim head coach. This will be the final scheduled meeting between the former Lone Star Conference rivals as NCAA Division II members with Tarleton making a move to Division I following the season.

6. The Ouachita Baptist Tigers are 0-1 on the season after losing to the University of Texas at Tyler 5-2 on Sunday. They will face Arkansas Tech on Saturday before hosting the RiverHawks. Rachel Jones is in her first season as head coach of the Tigers.

Looking Forward: The RiverHawks will travel to Durant, Okla. on Feb. 14 to face Southeastern Okla. before returning to Tahlequah on Feb. 15 to host Cameron in the home opener.