The Northwestern State women’s tennis team once again found itself in a tightly contested Southland Conference match Monday afternoon, but this time came up just short in a 4-3 loss to Incarnate Word at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex.

The Lady Demons (10-7 overall, 6-2 SLC) dropped the doubles point and battled back in singles, but the Cardinals (6-9, 5-3) secured the deciding point on the final court.

“Highly competitive college match,” NSU coach Marcos Morelli said. “Credit to UIW, they deserved the win.”

The Cardinals took control early in doubles play, sweeping the top two positions to secure the first team point.

Morelli pointed to doubles as the key difference in the match.

“They played doubles on their terms,” Morelli said. “They were more aggressive than us, and that made the difference.”

Trailing 1-0, the Demons responded in singles.

Athina Grigoriadou got NSU on the board first with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 3. UIW answered at No. 1 to restore  the Cardinals’ lead.

NSU’s Martina Acebedo Bonocore continued her strong form at No. 4, earning a 6-2, 6-2 win to again square the match.

Sofi Garcia secured the lead for the Demons at 3-2 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 5.

Soon after Garcia’s finish, the Cardinals evened it up at 3-all with a three-set victory in the second position.

That left the match to be decided at No. 6.

NSU’s Lolita Hukasian battled through a three-set match against UIW’s Alexandra Mille, taking the first set 6-4 and pushing to a deciding tiebreak in the third. Mille ultimately prevailed 7-6 (3) in the final set to secure the victory for the visitors.

The regular-season ends at home Wednesday against Lamar. First serve is set for 11 a.m. on Senior Day for Northwestern.

“We have some things to work on,” Morelli said. “We’ll address them and be ready for Wednesday.”