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The women already know that no matter what happens this weekend, win or lose; they are in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The men don’t have that luxury, but sophomore Vuk Milicevic said the women making the tournament helps push the men to want to do the same.

“I wouldn’t call it pressure,” Milicevic said. “But it is more of a hunger to make the tournament too. The girls have given us a good stepping stone and we will feed off that so we can hopefully go alongside them to Conference.”

The Panthers will host the last of their two regular season OVC contests with Eastern Kentucky on Friday and Murray State on Saturday.

The women (11-7, 6-2 OVC) are currently in 4th place in the OVC and after this weekend could end up anywhere from second to sixth place.

EKU women’s team is in fifth place, (11-10, 5-3). Murray is currently in second place (12-5, 7-1).

Since the top six teams make the conference, Eastern’s women know they are in but are aiming to place as high as they can in order to get a better seed, said head coach John Blackburn.

The men (12-5, 4-3) are currently fifth in the conference and after this weekend could be anywhere from fourth to seventh place.

EKU is in third place (16-9, 6-2). Murray is in sixth place (4-11, 3-3).

Senior Chuck Levaque said they knew earlier in the season that they would most likely be fighting with EKU and Murray for third through sixth place based on the pasts of the two teams.

“We looked at the schedule and saw it came down to those two in the end and knew because of previous years that there would be a good chance they would be in middle of the conference,” Levaque said.

Levaque also said when they looked at the schedule they were happy to see that these last two important conference matches would be at home.

Freshman Hayley Homburg said it is a disadvantage for EKU and Murray to be traveling for four hours or so and then have to come out and get ready to play.

“Anytime you are traveling you are at a disadvantage; bus rides or just sitting in the van for hours can be very physically draining,” said junior Chris Thomas. “We are going to be well rested, sleeping in our own beds and coming out to our home court. It definitely gives us the upper hand.”

Levaque said the way the schedule is set up the Panthers don’t have many home matches, so when they do get one they are very excited.

The women have only six home matches and the men have five out of 21 matches total at home.

One reason the Panthers are on the road so much is because of where Eastern is located in reference to the other OVC schools, Blackburn said.

Eastern travels a lot and they schedule two OVC matches at schools close to each other because of travel issues.

“All season we have to do that, with Jacksonville State and Samford and with Tennessee Martin and Austin Peay,” said senior Madina Mambetova. “It isn’t going to be any different except that this time we don’t have to travel.”

Because of Eastern’s location, Milicevic said the Panthers might also have an advantage when it comes to the environment and dealing with weather conditions.

“We are used to the cooler weather and the wind more than the southern schools are,” Milicevic said. “It may put us at an advantage setting up for the match, but people can adjust and we will just have to see what happens.”

Levaque said even with the advantages of home court and the weather the Panthers still can’t take anything for granted.

“Just like the weather, it can be really unpredictable,” Levaque said. “We can’t assume anything about anyone. We just need to come out, focus, and play our best to get the job done.”