IPFW M-Tennis | IPFW W-Tennis

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- This Sunday (Jan. 24), both Eastern Illinois tennis squads will travel to face the IPFW Mastodons in a dual meet set for a 3 pm (CST) start at the indoor Pine Ridge Racquet Club in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

It will be the spring opener for the Panther women, while the men will look to pick up their first victory after dropping the season opener at Purdue last Monday.

“The guys are looking forward to getting back out on the court after our last match at Purdue,” said head coach John Blackburn. “I felt the guys competed extremely well in some situations, but there's still room for improvement. Hopefully we'll rise up to a higher level on Sunday.”

In the men's spring opener at Purdue last Monday, the Panthers and Boilermakers were tied 2-2 at one point in the meet, but EIU dropped the next three singles matches to lose, 5-2, and sit at 0-1 on the early season. The lone Panther individual winners came from EIU newcomers Michael Sperry and Justin Haag as each won their respective No. 5 and No. 6 Singles bouts in straight sets.

The Eastern women, meanwhile, open the season with a relatively young squad, yet return junior Cara Huck and sophomores Shannon Brooks, Amanda Dibbs, Annie Egan, and Juliana Frey. EIU newcomers include Annie Munch, Carolyn Rutili and Merritt Whitley.

“We're really excited to get the season started this weekend,” Blackburn said. “We've been working hard in practice and there is a lot of enthusiasm with the start of the season. This year we have a young team with a lot of talent, and I think we're improving, so I know the girls will play hard on Sunday.”

Both squads return to the court next Saturday (Jan. 30), traveling to future Ohio Valley Conference rival, and instate foe, SIU-Edwardsville. First serve is set for 3:30 pm at the Edwardsville YMCA.

For more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID