LAKE CHARLES—  McNeese women's tennis ended its Southland Conference opening weekend with another dominating win, a 7-0 win over Nicholls Saturday to begin SLC play with a 2-0 record. 
 
The last 2-0 conference start for the Cowgirls was in 2018 when the Cowgirls were SLC Co-Champs and won the SLC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. That year, McNeese also started the SLC  schedule 2-0 before dropping its only conference match, ending the season with a 10-1 conference record.
 
McNeese (12-2, 2-0 SLC) opened Saturday's match winning the doubles point for a quick 1-0 lead. The Cowgirls then swept through the singles matches where Ariane Monlleo Sanchis and Emma-Lou Pommiers both won their matches in straight sets on Court 6 and Court 1, respectively for a 3-0 McNeese lead.
 
Heta Nuutinen, Tiana Fox, and Maria Wang Martinez put the Cowgirls up 6-0 with their three-set wins on Court 2, 3, and 5.  Nuutinen recovered from a 6-0 first set loss to take the next two sets, 6-2 and 6-4 to claim the win. Fox won the first set 6-3, dropped the second 6-4 before picking up the third set by a 6-2 score.  Wang also dropped her first set 7-5 but bounced back to win the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3.
 
Natalia Ballo won her opening set 6-3 then fought back from a second set tiebreaking loss 7-6 (7-5) to win the match with third set 10-7 score in the final match.
 
With the wins, Wang improves to 13-1 overall, Pommiers (9-1), Fox (9-2), Nuutinen and Sanchis (9-4), and Ballo (8-3).  The doubles team of Fox and Pommiers improves to 5-1 on the season.
 
The loss drops Nicholls to 9-9 overall and 1-2 in league action.  McNeese will travel to Southeastern on Friday, March 31 and Northwestern State on April 2 in its next scheduled matches.
 
SINGLES
1. Emma-Lou Pommiers (MCN) def. Sophia Sara Safarova (NICH) 6-0, 6-2
2. Heta Nuutinen (MCN) def. Simona Maksimovic (NICH) 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Tiana Fox (MCN) def. Dareen Hassan (NICH) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
4. Natalia Ballo (MCN) def. Constanza Cruz (NICH) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 10-7
5. Maria Wang Martinez (MCN) def. Carla Bouygues (NICH) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
6. Ariane Monlleo Sanchis (MCN) def. Laura Lopez (NICH) 6-0, 6-2
 
DOUBLES
1. Tiana Fox/Emma-Lou Pommiers (MCN) def. Laura Lopez/Constanza Cruz (NICH) 6-3
2. Natalia Ballo/Luna Jokanovic (MCN) def. Sophia Sara Safarova/Noemie Piquet (NICH) 6-4
3. Carla Bouygues/Dareen Hassan (NICH) def. Maria Wang Martinez/Ariane Monlleo Sanchis (MCN) 7-6 (7-5)