HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's tennis team will open up the fall portion of its 2019-20 schedule this week at the NSU Invitational, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Natchitoches.
 
The Lions head to rival Northwestern State to face a tough field that includes SLU, the Lady Demons, defending Southland Tournament champion Central Arkansas, Stephen F. Austin and UL Lafayette, among others. Every coach wants to win every match, but Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes is more concerned with the method than the results in his team's first fall competition.
 
"We've had a couple of great weeks of practice and this first tournament we want to see our players doing the things we've been working on," Hayes commented. "Whether we win or lose every match this weekend, we're going to open up Southland Conference play next February with an 0-0 league record. Everything we do this fall is focused on us being at our best come conference play. We can win matches this weekend, but if we don't do it the right way, we're taking a step backwards."
 
Southeastern returns a quartet of All-Southland Conference letter winners from last season's roster. Sophomore Putri Insani was an all-conference selection at No. 1 singles a season ago, while Flory Bierma and Katya Cornejo were among the league's best at No. 3 doubles. Fellow returner Ximena Yanez was part of an All-Southland doubles team as a freshman in 2018. Hayes would like to see all four of his veterans continue to improve.
 
"For our returners to take the next step, we have to be more aggressive and finish at the net," Hayes said. "We'd like to see a bigger first serve from Putri. Flory has the best overhead of anyone I've coached and she needs to put it to use. Katya and Ximena are juniors now. They can't make the same mistakes they did as freshmen and sophomores."
 
Southeastern will also see four players make their debut in the green and gold. Kyra Akinnibi is a junior transfer from ASA College, while freshmen Polina Sleptsova, Kim Bohlen and Teodora Mitrovic are playing their first collegiate competition.
 
"We just want our new players to enjoy the process," Hayes stated. "If they play with the attitude and effort we expect, we'll consider it a successful weekend. For our three freshmen, they have to adapt to playing on hard courts after growing up playing on clay. Seeing what works on hard courts and applying it to their games will be key."
 
All but Akinnibi will compete in singles play. The doubles pairings for SLU will include Insani and Yanez, Bierma and Bohlen, Cornejo and Akinnibi, as well as Mitrovic and Sleptsova.
 
Next Up
This weekend will be the first of four fall tournaments for the Lions. Southeastern will travel to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico to compete in the Iberostar College Cup from Sept. 24-29.
 
40 LOVE CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the tennis program are encouraged to join the 40 Love Club. Lion tennis alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the 40 Love Club and S Club (tennis) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern tennis program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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