Eastern’s tennis head coach John Blackburn is confident his teams are regaining their swagger.

“I think everybody is improving,” he said. “The more and more matches we play they better we get.”

The Panthers will try to put their losses to Northern Illinois and Marquette behind them when they travel to Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne at 2 p.m. Friday.

“Fort Wayne we have played over the years,” junior Brandon Lenfert said. “They are a quality opponent but Marquette was one of the tougher teams on our schedule this season. I was happy with how we did against Marquette so if we come out and play mentally and physically tough we should be okay this weekend.”

Eastern will not be squaring off against just IPFW.

The Panthers will be joined by Lipscomb, Saint Francis (Penn.) and Detroit-Mercy at the Pine Ridge Racquet Club for the weekend meet.

Detroit-Mercy doesn’t have a men’s program so the women will have one more match than the men.

The men will have one match a day over the weekend while the women will have four, with two on Saturday.

IPFW is the only team of the group that the Panthers have played before so coach Blackburn has been doing his homework.

“Lipscomb is probably every bit as good as Marquette on paper,” Blackburn said. “It should be a very challenging match. They will be the best of those opponents we will face.”

Sophomore Sandra Sasidharan is coming off an impressive performance Monday night at NIU. She will again be given the No. 1 spot in the singles matches and will take on the top competition from the other schools.

“I think Sandra against the other top girls should be very exciting,” Blackburn said. “They are very talented and experienced girls, so it should be a good challenge for her.”

The major issue this weekend might not be the level of competition. The Panthers will be playing against not only the other schools, but their fatigue as well.

Both the men and women will be playing many matches in a short period of time.

Two of the men, sophomore Chris Thomas and junior Ryan Blankenbaker, have been dealing with some knee soreness this week and it could be an issue. While singles play earns more team points, it is much more rigorous and intense on the knee.

Depending on their status, they could be limited to doubles play.

Regardless of the obstacles his team is facing, coach Blackburn is optimistic.

“We should be in a good position to compete well in all our matches this weekend,” he said.