TAHLEQUAH –  In a closely contested match on Saturday morning, Ouachita Baptist defeated Northeastern State 4-3 at the NSU Tennis Courts. Both teams secured three wins each in singles play, but Ouachita Baptist's advantage in doubles proved to be the difference.

In singles action, Northeastern State saw strong performances from Tegan Heaton, Sofia Kotliarova, and Annika Kleinhans. Heaton cruised past Natalia Zamora in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, while Kotliarova battled through a three-set match to overcome Ali May, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Kleinhans also delivered for the RiverHawks, defeating Marlee Bledsoe, 6-2, 6-2.

Ouachita Baptist responded with victories from Sadbaroy Kholdarova, Alice Kubler, and Anastasia Myachina. Kholdarova took down Adel Ismagulova 6-0, 7-5, while Kubler outlasted Lucia Bontempo in a three-set clash, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Myachina also secured a win in a three-set battle, defeating Camila de Michele 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The deciding factor came in doubles play, where Ouachita Baptist won two of the three matches. Kholdarova and Zamora teamed up to beat Heaton and Ismagulova 7-5, while Kubler and Ali May edged out Lucia Bontempo and Camila de Michele in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-1). Northeastern State's sole doubles victory came from the duo of Kleinhans and Kotliarova, who defeated Marlee Bledsoe and Macie Heide 6-1.

"Another close one today, but we let it slip away today, if we're being honest," said head coach Tim McLane.  "We had a sizeable double lead and couldn't close that out. Then we had four first sets in the singles and gained momentum after we got those leads."

"At the end of the day, OBU made us have to earn it, and we made too many easy mistakes to close out the lead.  We've got a few weeks before conference starts so we're going to get on the practice court and do our best to address these issues."

With the win, Ouachita Baptist improved to 3-4 on the season, while Northeastern State fell to 2-5. The RiverHawks will return to the courts on March 8 to host Central Arkansas.