Junior Chris Thomas came back to singles play this weekend after a previous injury.

Thomas was out the first four weeks of the season with a separated ligament in a finger on his left hand, head coach John Blackburn said.

Thomas won the first set 6-2 and the second set 7-6 at No. 4 singles against Indianapolis on Saturday.

Blackburn said in the second set the other player stepped his game up and Thomas did a good job of matching it and not backing down.

On Sunday at Illinois State he lost the No. 4 singles match (6-2, 6-2) and said he did struggle, but not because of his finger.

“It felt great just to be back,” Thomas said. “There were no problems with the injury. I had been practicing for awhile so everything went just fine.”

Doubles the difference in men’s record

Coming off a weekend where the doubles point was the difference maker, the men’s tennis team is 6-1 in gaining that point so far this season.

Sophomore Vuk Milicevic said the Panthers get a confidence boost with winning the doubles point.

The team’s only loss was at Indiana State, where they also lost the doubles point.

Blackburn said having a 6-1 overall and doubles record is something they take pride in, especially considering they have made some changes in pairs.

Senior Chuck Levaque is now paired with sophomore Jordan Nestrud after being paired with Brandon Lenfert early on. Lenfert is now paired with Thomas, while Milicevic is paired with junior Sean Bush.

Blackburn said the reason the doubles point is such a big deal is because it forces the other team to win four of the six singles matches.

“Even though it is just one point it ends up being a pretty big hole for the other team to crawl out of,” Blackburn said.

Three individuals remain undefeated

Senior Chuck Levaque, junior Sandra Sasidharan and sophomore Natalie Martin remain undefeated approaching the halfway point of the season.

Because Levaque and Sasidharan play at No. 1 singles and Martin plays at No. 2, Blackburn said they usually face each school’s best players.

Sasidharan said this weekend against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis she felt her record being tested slightly in singles.

“The other girl was really competing and going for every shot and it was one of those days where I wasn’t feeling my best,” Sasidharan said.

Sasidharan had to go into a third set on Saturday because she won the first set 6-4 and lost the second 7-6.

Sasidharan won the final set 6-2.

“It is still too early to get too excited about it though we have a lot of tough matches ahead of us,” Sasidharan said.

Sasidharan and Levaque winning helps push Martin to win too and they motivate each other, Martin said.

“It feels good to be undefeated but it is more important to me that we are winning as a team and that I am contributing to that,” Levaque said.