THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University women's tennis team will take on No. 7 Southeastern Louisiana University to begin play in the Southland Conference Tournament on Thursday, April 18. First serve is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Nicholls landed as the No. 10 seed after going 0-7 in conference. The Colonels (6-13) started the season by winning six of their first seven matches, but have since lost 12 in a row. One of the setbacks came in a tightly contested match against SLU (9-11, 2-5 SLC) on April 5.

The Red and Gray won doubles for an early 1-0 lead and Constanza Cruz followed with a straight-set win in singles. However, Aada Inna and Noemie Piquet both fell in three-set matches while Sophia Sara Safarova and Lea Grinberg each saw their contests stopped early due to retirement.

Cruz led Nicholls with seven victories in singles and was one of three Colonels to notch a pair of league wins, joined by Piquet and Carla Bouygues. Cruz and Bouygues also tied for the most wins for a doubles pair with five, with Inna and Grigberg also notching five. 

Last postseason, the Colonels secured a 4-1 win over Bryant in the opening round of the SLC Tournament before falling to eventual champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. 

The winner of the single elimination tournament will claim the Southland's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championship.

Live scoring will be available for each match, with the championship match on Sunday broadcast on ESPN+.