The bitter cold was better suited for winter sports in Charleston on Monday. However, that did not stop the women’s spring sports season from commencing.

The women’s tennis team went on the road to take on Northern Illinois University.

The Panthers lost to a shorthanded NIU squad 4-3 at the Rockford Boylan High School Indoor Tennis Center.

“It was our first match of the year,” head coach John Blackburn said. “There might have been some first-match jitters.”

Eastern was successful at the top, with sophomore Sandra Sasidharan winning her No. 1 singles match and combining with junior Madina Mambetova to win the No. 1 doubles match as well.

They won their doubles match 8-2 and Sasidharan dominated in her singles match, winning in consecutive sets, 6-0,6-1.

“Sandra and Madina should be our stand-outs this year,” Blackburn said. “They have never lost since starting to play doubles together in the fall.”

Eastern’s only other victories came from two forfeits because the Huskies were missing one player. They forfeited the No. 6 singles match and No. 3 doubles match.

Despite Northern being short-handed the Panthers’ lack of experience was exposed as NIU took the No. 2 through No. 5 singles matches.

Mambetova lost her No. 2 singles match in three sets, 1-6,6-3,6-3.

Mambetova finished strong last season however, and she thinks her training over the summer will help her continue with that success.

“I think my practice last summer will improve my consistency,” Mambetova said. “I worked a lot on my high balls and approach and I am confident with them now in matches.”

The confidence that Mambetova is feeling did not translate over to her teammates, as sophomore Stephanie Harmazy, junior Samantha Lininger and senior Jill Wirtz all lost in straight sets,

The team scoring in tennis is unlike track or other individual sports. The team winning the majority of the doubles matches receives one point for the total score and then each singles match counts for one point individually. Eastern took the one point from the doubles matches due to Sasidharan and Mambetova’s victory and the forfeit. With the only Eastern singles victories coming from Sasidharan and the forfeited sixth match, the Panthers received three points from their four wins while Northern received four points from their five wins.

Both tennis teams have started the season with losses as the men fell last Saturday at Marquette. They will hope to put those loses behind them when they both travel to Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne this Friday for a 2 p.m. match.