ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Northeastern State split its matches on Saturday beating Ouachita Baptist 4-2 and later falling to the same score to Henderson State.
Rain and scheduling conflicts pushed the RiverHawks into playing a rare regional doubleheader against two teams that are across the street from one another.
"Pretty wild day today, partly due to weather forcing us into a doubleheader and partly because we were a little too up and down with our focus and execution at times," said head coach
Tim McLane. A gutsy performance in the singles against a really solid Henderson squad, especially after getting pushed by a much improved Ouachita team."
"We did a great job of really fighting in that second match, we just kind of ran out of gas at the end, both mentally and physically a little. But that was a good gut check for us to see how we bounced back after not playing well in the doubles. If we can bottle that intensity and duplicate that every time out then we'll be just fine."
Against Ouachita Baptist (4-5), the RiverHawks took doubles, and it would be
Andrea Vargas in No. 6 singles to clinch the match as the fifth player off the court taking her sets 6-3, 6-4.
Sandra Mari Marti won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles and
Valeria Teran took No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-0.
In match two, the RiverHawks dropped doubles to Henderson State (7-3), but looked to be in control early. Both of NSU's two singles courts won their first sets. However, the Reddies rallied back by winning a trio of three-set matches to overcome the RiverHawks.
Tegan Heaton claimed a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles, and Vargas won No. 6 singles in three sets.
The RiverHawks (4-2) are off until March 18, when they will play a pair of matches in San Antonio, Texas.
