HAMMOND, La. - The Nicholls State University women's tennis team came up short in a pair of Southland Conference matches over the weekend, falling 4-3 to McNeese Friday before being defeated by Southeastern Louisiana, 5-2, on Sunday.

The losses put Nicholls at 3-13 on the season and 1-7 in league play. They'll return to their conference slate on Wednesday at New Orleans.

Against McNeese, Nicholls won the doubles point behind victories by Stephanie Barnett/Lingfeng Gu at No. 1 and Marina Vigil/Antonia Roessli at No. 3. But Barnett and Roessli were the only ones to win in singles as the Cowgirls came back for the 4-3 victory. Sunday at SLU, Roessli won again in singles and Gu notched her first Southland win in a straight-set decision.

"I was proud of the effort we put forth. We fought as hard as we could, but at the end of the day, we just got beat. I give a lot of credit to Southeastern, they really stepped it up and pushed through in the tough moments," said Greg Harkins, Nicholls tennis head coach. "Against McNeese, last year's champion, it was another tough loss. We got out in front with the doubles point for the third match in a row but we just haven't learned how to get to the finish line. I was really proud about Stephanie Barnett and Antonia Roessli continuing their winning ways."

With the win against McNeese, Barnett pushed her winning streak to five matches at No. 1 singles. But on Sunday, it came to an end in a tough 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 1-6 battle against Putri Insani.

Roessli had a perfect weekend at No. 4 singles and has now won three straight league matches. She and Barnett led Nicholls with 4-4 singles records in conference play.

UP NEXT
The Colonels continue their seven-match road swing with two matches in New Orleans, starting Tuesday against Loyola-New Orleans at the City Park Tennis Center.

FOLLOW ALONG
The women's tennis team can be followed all season long on Twitter @Nicholls_WTEN.