TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State Women's Tennis continues its homestand at the NSU Tennis Complex and closes out the spring regular season with Missouri Western Sunday at 1 p.m.

FIRST SERVE

1. Northeastern State has played 11 of its 15 matches on the road this spring. In MIAA play, the RiverHawks are 4-3 with all wins coming away from Tahlequah. They are 8-7 overall.
2. The match winner will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming conference championship.
3. NSU has secured the doubles point in all eight of their wins.
4. On the doubles courts, the RiverHawks own a 24-21 overall record and have used 13 different pairings. Kristela Vidnere and Maria Popova took the No. 4 pairing in the nation to a decisive tiebreaker last weekend versus Central Oklahoma.
5. 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 9-3 overall. The RiverHawks are above .500 on both of those courts. In singles, Sofia Lundgren is 3-1 overall while Belinda Jayaprakash is 7-7.
6. NSU will honor Vidnere for Senior Day. She served as a leader this spring playing at the top of the singles lineup.
7. Fans are allowed and asked to socially distance the best they can. Court access is not permitted by spectators.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Missouri Western - Sunday April 25, at 1 p.m.

1. The Griffons are 10-4 (4-2 in MIAA) overall and are riding a two-match win streak. They will head to UCO after the tilt with NSU.
2. Northeastern State is undefeated with Missouri Western dating back to 2003. NSU's 14-0 advantage did not face a test last season as the pandemic canceled the season before the meeting.
3. Ioanna Lathouri is ranked as the No. 33 singles player in the nation.

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 heads to Edmond for the MIAA Championships April 30 to May 2. Fans will be allowed at Edmond Center Court.