ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- A late rally by Northeastern State fell short Saturday as the RiverHawks dropped its MIAA opener 4-3 at No. 29 ranked Missouri Western.

The RiverHawks took doubles and dug themselves out of a 3-1 deficit in singles but couldn't force a third set on court six for the setback.

"That was a pretty crushing way to open conference play, but I was pleased with the way we competed as a unit today," said head coach Tim McLane.  "We played, by far, our best doubles point of the season, but we just needed to do a little more early in the singles to keep hold of that momentum." 

"Our younger players stepped up today and we nearly flipped that last match and were extremely close to upsetting a really good ranked team, but that's how it goes in competition sometimes."

After the Griffons (10-1, 1-0 MIAA) claimed courts five, three, and one Sandra Mari Marti took court two 7-5, 6-3.  Valeria Teran followed up and won her second set tiebreaker for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory to even the match at three apiece.  

Andrea Vargas was the one remaining player for NSU and dropped her first set 6-4.  The freshman was up 6-5 in the second set and was one point from forcing a third.  Missouri Western dug out of a 40-15 advantage and won the deuce point to pull even at 6-6.  In the tiebreaker, Vargas would fall 7-5.

Northeastern State (5-4, 0-1 MIAA) returns home to host Fort Hays State on Friday.