HAMMOND – After helping Southeastern Louisiana to a 3-0 start to the 2013 season, Lion freshman Nastya Tokareva was named the Southland Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week in an announcement from the league office on Tuesday.
 
Tokareva, a native of Moscow, Russia, was 3-0 at No. 2 singles and teamed with junior Valya Rusakova for a doubles win. The Lions opened the season with road victories over Louisiana Tech, Jackson State and Grambling.
 
“Individual honors are a result of team success,” Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes said. “So, our entire team deserves a piece of this honor. Nastya is a very talented player and if she continues to work hard, she'll be a very successful player for us over the next four years.”
 
In singles play, Tokareva lost just six games on the way to three straight set victories. On Friday, she picked up a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Jackson State's Harshini Reddy. She opened the day on Saturday with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Manoela Chiacchio of Louisiana Tech. In a 6-0 win over Grambling to close the trip, she powered past Grambling's Joy Jones by a 6-1, 6-1 score. She and Rusakova earned an 8-5 win on the No. 1 court versus JSU's Reddy and Kesica Jayapalan.
 
Southeastern will return to the court on Wednesday, facing Southern at 1 p.m. in Baton  Rouge.