Eastern has had almost two weeks to think about today’s opponent: Indiana State.

“[The Sycamores] are arguably the most talented team we will face all year,” said head coach John Blackburn.

The Panthers haven’t played since their March 10 loss to Southern Illinois, and the team used the long layoff wisely.

Spring break was not all fun and games for the tennis team as head coach John Blackburn made sure the team had a mix of rest and practice.

Sophomore Chris Thomas opened up his home in Wilmette over break to two of his international teammates who could not make the long trip home for just one week. Junior Chuck LeVaque and freshman Vuk Milicevic spent the break with Thomas “mostly relaxing, but we did play a little,” said Thomas.

While the team could relax early in the break, Thomas said they had to return on Thursday because coach Blackburn had scheduled practices Thursday through Tuesday in preparation for the talented Sycamore squad.

The men were scheduled to travel to Terre Haute, Ind., Wednesday, and start competition at 3 p.m. But the snow has forced the match indoors. The Sycamores will now host the Panthers at 11 a.m. in “the Bubble” field house.

Eastern will take its 5-3 record into “the Bubble” where Indiana State has a perfect 4-0 home record this season.

“They are a very deep team all the way down,” Blackburn said. “They are a great team and all of the guys will need to play well and step up at the same time.”

Almost two weeks off from competition might have the players feeling rusty, but Thomas is confident that the team will be ready to compete.

“All the practices since Thursday have us really prepared,” the No.4 singles competitor said. “I think we will be ready to go.”

The women played a marathon of a match Monday night in Carbondale against Southern Illinois.

With only two courts available, the Panther women fell 4-3 to the Salukis in a match that took seven hours and did not finish until around 10 p.m.

The women again performed well at No.1 and 2 singles, but could only get one other win out of the other four singles matches. Sophomore Sandra Sasidharan won her No.1 singles match 7-6,7-6, and junior Madina Mambetova rallied after losing her first set 4-6 to take the match with 6-1,6-3 wins in the following two sets.

Junior Cristina Carrillo scored the third point for the Panthers by taking her No.6 singles match 6-0,6-4.

With both the Salukis and Panthers taking three of the singles points, the doubles match became the deciding factor. Eastern faltered where the team is usually strong and could only take the No.2 doubles match behind the pair of Sasidharan and freshman Stephanie Harmazy.

The men and women will be back in action together when Tennessee Tech and Tennessee-Martin come to Darling Courts for a weekend meet. It is the first home match of the season for the women and the first Ohio Valley Conference matches for both teams.