TAHLEQUAH – Fresh off another 2-0 week on the road with MIAA foes Northeastern State returns home to host No. 4 Central Oklahoma Saturday at 1 p.m.

FIRST SERVE

1. Northeastern State has played eleven of its matches on the road this spring. In MIAA play, the RiverHawks are 4-2 with all wins coming away from Tahlequah. They are 8-6 overall.
2. The RiverHawks have secured the doubles point in all six of their wins.
3. After experimenting with different lineups, NSU seems to have found a winning combination by moving Melissa Vera to the No. 4 flight in singles where she is 5-2.  Vera Carvalho is 6-2 on court No. 5 and 9-2 overall. The RiverHawks are above .500 on both of those courts.
4. Last weekend at Emporia State and Newman NSU had two players out with injuries allowing Irene Romero and Sofia Lundgren to enter the singles lineup. They both won as NSU took the bottom four courts in each match.
5. Head coach Tim McLane is in his first season with the RiverHawks. He was hired Dec. 21, following stops at South Carolina Upstate and Mercer.
6. Fans are allowed at the NSU Tennis Complex and asked to socially distance the best they can. Court access is not permitted by spectators.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
#4 Central Oklahoma - Saturday at 1 p.m.

1. The Bronchos are 14-1 (6-0 in MIAA) overall and have swept five of their conference matches.
2. Northeastern State leads the overall series record 24-6. Both teams have historically had close matches.
3. UCO has three players ranked in the top-50 of singles nationally.

ITA/UTR PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Popova was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and Universal Tennis Ranking Player of the week on March 31 for her match clinching wins. She won four-straight singles matches to increase her UTR from 0.25 to 7.44.

UP NEXT: Northeastern State stays at home to host Missouri Western Friday at 1 p.m.