Northwestern State returns to the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex today for a 1 o’clock match against an unbeaten South Alabama squad that has opened the season in dominant fashion.
South Alabama is 4-0. The Lady Demons (4–2) enter the contest coming off a 5–2 victory over Tyler Junior College, a match that showcased both depth and resilience.
NSU secured the doubles point before claiming four singles victories, continuing a recent trend of building early momentum.
Head coach Marcos Morelli emphasized that doubles will once again be critical against a South Alabama team that has controlled the early stages of matches this season.
“South Alabama is a great team with a big tennis history,” Morelli said. “Whoever takes the doubles point will have an important lead.”
BASEBALL: The undefeated Demons open a four-game weekend series at Central Arkansas beginning at 4 p.m. today. Streaming audio of the series, which also includes a 12 p.m. Saturday doubleheader and a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee, can be heard on www.NSUDemons.com. Saturday’s doubleheader will air on ESPN+.
“I’m really happy with what we have discovered about our ball club over the first four games,” third-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We’ve learned so much about how to get in a rhythm and a flow. We’ve learned about guys coming off the bench. We’ve learned quite a bit about our pitching staff. We’ve learned we haven’t necessarily played our best brand of baseball from a physical execution standpoint, but we are exhibiting some pretty cool characteristics that we want to be cornerstones of our culture.
“At the end of the day, regardless of what it looks like to the eye or what the aesthetic of it is, our guys are punchers and fighters. Our guys have some really cool grit about them that I think is going to pay dividends down the line as we’re able to clean up and mix quality baseball execution with the amazing, mature characteristics they’ve shown.”
Off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1999, Northwestern has flashed the ability to win tight games highlighted by strong pitching as well as slugfests. The Demons have rallied from deficits in the sixth inning or later three times to collect victories.
Bertrand’s team will face a Central Arkansas (2-2) squad in a stadium where the Demons have not played since 2021 when UCA was a Southland Conference member.
SOFTBALL: Northwestern hopes to match its improved production with results this weekend, as the Lady Demons (3-9) visit Jacksonville, Ala., for their third tournament of the season.
NSU will play five more games in the span of three days against three different teams, all of which enter the weekend with winning records.
Northwestern opens with a single game against Gardner-Webb (6-3) today at noon. The Demons will see the Bulldogs again in the first game on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., before the first of two meetings with DePaul (7-4) that afternoon. Sunday’s doubleheader starts with DePaul at 10 a.m., then meeting host Jacksonville State (6-4) to close the weekend.
“We are playing some good teams, but we feel like they are winnable games,” head coach Jenny Fuller said. “It’s really a matter of getting the offense and the pitching together at the same time and both having a good day. That’s really our main focus this weekend, finding a little more consistency in both places.”
