Eastern didn’t have the weather to worry about on Thursday against Samford because the match was moved indoors because of rain.

The men (7-3, 1-2 Ohio Valley Conference) fell 7-0 to the Bulldogs, who are undefeated in conference play.

No. 1 and 2 singles went into three sets but senior Chuck Levaque and sophomore Vuk Milicevic couldn’t pull out a win, losing 6-3 and 7-5 in the tiebreaker sets.

After gaining the doubles point the women (6-6, 1-2) still lost 4-3 to Samford but Blackburn was impressed with how they matched up to the defending conference champions.

“Winning the doubles point against them showed a lot of progress from our doubles teams and to be only one match short to the conference favorites is definitely an accomplishment,” said head coach John Blackburn.

The men lost 6-1 Wednesday to Jacksonville State with sophomore Jordan Nestrud at No. 6 singles with the only win of the day.

Levaque took his match into a third set but lost 10-4, ending his undefeated streak.

“It’s hard to say what the problem was,” Levaque said. “We just have to give credit to JSU for playing tough tennis and defending their home court.”

The women also lost to Jacksonville starting the match off without the doubles victory.

Senior Madina Mambetova said she had a hard time adjusting to the weather because it was the first time Eastern played outside on the road.

“You have to account for the wind, and the sun and JSU has a lot of experience practicing outside with the weather being nicer there than it is here in Charleston,” Mambetova said.

The Panthers started their spring break with both teams beating Morehead State 5-2 in their home and conference opener, March 10.

The men managed to rally back after losing the doubles point to the Eagles early on.

No. 1, 2 and 6 singles all went into three sets and Eastern managed to come out on top each time.

“They showed a lot of resilience coming back out of the hole left by the doubles point,” Blackburn said. “Those were some tough, tight matches and they fought hard and came back.

The women won the doubles point right away and won at No. 1, 2, 3 and 5 singles.

“The intensity of the entire match was unbelievable from both teams,” said freshman Hayley Homburg.

Homburg said the Morehead’s men’s team was so loud that it helped to pump everyone up for the match.

-For individual results, click here.