SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Northeastern State's season came to a close Friday afternoon with a 4-0 loss to No. 43-ranked Northwest Missouri State in the MIAA Women's Tennis Tournament opening round at the Cooper Tennis Complex.

"Just a great effort from these ladies today," said head coach Tim McLane.  "The final score may read 4-0, but I genuinely felt like we had a chance to win it right up until the last point. We had really good energy, and they competed so hard that it almost flipped the match for us." 

"I wish we had a couple more weeks of the season left because it felt like we were finally starting to get some things figured out toward the end. I'm just really happy with the way this team competed today."

Doubles broke Northwest Missouri's way with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to secure the point.  The Bearcats won the final three games at No. 3 and claimed the final two at No. 2. 

In singles, Miru Nonaka held off Lucia Bontempo in a hard-fought 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 5, while Alva Norberg added a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Adel Ismagulova on court two. Carolina Oliveira delivered the clincher, dispatching Annika Kleinhans 6-2, 6-4 to secure the Bearcats' advancement.

Tegan Heaton, Sofia Kotliarova, and Barbora Havlova each had their matches left unfinished for NSU.  Heaton and Kotliarova were in their third sets, while Havlova was up 5-4 in her second, trying to force a third.

With the loss, the RiverHawks wrapped up their 2025 campaign at 6-13.