TAHLEQUAH – Northwest Missouri stormed back to win a pair of three-set matches in singles to beat Northeastern State 5-2 Friday afternoon. 

The Bearcats (15-3, 6-0 MIAA) dropped its first set on court one 6-3 and rallied past Emilia Cosatto with identical scores in the remaining sets for the overall match point. Alisha Moldakhmetova won her first set 6-2 but dropped the following two 6-2 and 6-0 on court two.

Valeria Teran claimed a 7-6, 6-1 win on court five, and Sandra Mari Marti won 7-6, 6-4 on court six. 

"You know, the team is a little bummed out that we weren't able to pull that one out today, but I was really happy with the way we competed and the way we were able to consistently get to our offense," said head coach Tim McLane.

"Northwest is a top-10 level team with one of the best records in the country, and we were able to go punch for punch with them right up until the end.  The key now is can we sustain that level tomorrow against another top-25 team."

Northeastern State (8-6, 3-2 MIAA) closes its home slate Saturday with Washburn at 3 p.m.