Eastern women’s tennis took advantage of its strong double play on Saturday.

Two Eastern doubles teams won 2 out of 3 doubles matches to pick up the doubles point as the Panthers defeated Northern Illinois, 4-3, in Rockford.

Junior Natalie Martin and sophomore Hayley Homburg won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles. Senior Sandra Sasidharan and freshman Cara Huck won 8-2 at No. 2 doubles.

Freshman Abby Allgire and sophomore Carrie Larson lost at No. 3 doubles, 8-4.

“The effort and style of doubles play we showed today was especially exciting because of the hard work we’ve been devoting to it in practice,” said Eastern tennis coach John Blackburn.

Martin defeated Katie Friedlund, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. Homburg defeated Brooke Forsberg, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, at No. 3 singles. Eastern senior Stephanie Harmazy defeated Steph Okuma in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 6 singles. Jenny Edner defeated Allgire, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 4 singles. Doris Delgadillo defeated Huck, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 5 singles.

No. 1 singles play was retired because of an injury to Sasidharan.

Northern’s Lillian Asuaje was ahead of Sasidharan, 7-6, 3-0, and picked up the win.

The Panthers (2-0) will return to action when they play Indiana-Purdue-Ft. Wayne at 6 p.m. Friday in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

JC Clark can be reached at 581-7944 or at jrclark2@eiu.edu.