TAHLEQUAH - Northeastern State won its second connective match Saturday handling a pesky Arkansas Fort Smith squad 5-2. 

The RiverHawks (3-1) needed a pair of hard fought sets to grab two points from the nearby Lions.  Alisha Moldakhmetova and Sofia Kotliarova clinched doubles in an endless 7-6 set but it was the 14-12 tiebreaker that stole the show at the No. 1 spot. 

Sandra Mari Marti clinched the match for the RiverHawks after UAFS (1-3) grabbed two singles points.  The sophomore lost just one game in her second set 6-3, 6-1.  Valeria Teran needed a third set to win her ninth consecutive match 6-7, 6-3, 13-11. 

"Well we're thankful to win at home back to back days, even though we're a little beat up and the matches may have been a little more stressful than perhaps they should have been," said head coach Tim McLane. 

"Even though we're sitting at 3-1 for right now, we know that, as a team, we've got several areas we need to and can improve on. The schedule is going to be tough leading into conference play, so we need to get back to work Monday and iron out a few things."

Saturday's win is the seventh consecutive over the Lions, a team NSU will see again next year but as a conference team in the MIAA. 

The RiverHawks will be off until March 8 where they will travel to Henderson State for more non-conference action.