SIUE M-Tennis  |  SIUE W-Tennis

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois men's and women's tennis squads  travel to Ohio Valley Conference rival SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday (April 3) for a 2 p.m. afternoon road dual.

The Panther men and women are coming off road sweeps of Tennessee State last weekend and enter the the match with respective 7-5 (2-2 OVC) and 9-3 (4-1 OVC) records.  The SIUE squads, meanwhile, sport 7-5/2-2 and 7-10/3-3 marks.

As of today (April 2), the Panther women are tied Murray State for second place in the OVC standings, while the EIU men are tied for sixth.  Only the top six squads are eligible to compete at the season-ending league championships on April 19-21 in Paducah, Ky.

At 9-3 overall, the EIU women, meanwhile, are led by senior Merritt Whitley's 8-3 singles mark and three-match winning streak, which includes a nice 4-1 tally in OVC play.  She's also 7-2 all-time in doubles action when teamed with junior Janelle Prisner.  Prisner is 7-3, meanwhile, when playing at the top of the singles lineup.

Newcomer Alex Curtis saw her first action of the season this past weekend, going 3-0 at the No. 4 and No. 6 singles spots.  Classmate Ali Foster is 7-2 on the year in individual play and owns a 6-1 duo mark when teamed with senior Kristen Laird.

For the guys, junior Kevin Bauman is enjoying his own four-match win streak to sit a 6-4 overall in singles, while going 2-0 in league action.  He's also 4-2 at No. 2 duos when joined by freshman Robert Skolik.

Fellow newcomer Ryan Henderson is 5-3 on the year individually and owns a 3-1 doubles record while playing with a variety of teammates.

The Wednesday match versus the Cougars was postponed from an original date of March 21, due to the recent inclement weather during the early-spring.

This coming weekend, both EIU squads will continue road conference play, as the both units will head to Jacksonville State for a 10 a.m. dual on Saturday (April 6), while the Eastern men will also pay a visit to Tennessee Tech on Sunday.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID