Women’s tennis falls to SEC power

The Eastern women’s tennis team traveled south for Spring Break in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Panthers lost 7-0 on Wednesday to Mississippi State, the first Southeastern Conference opponent Eastern has faced in program history.

MSU won all three doubles contests and won every singles match in straight sets. Eastern junior Natalie Martin’s loss in the No. 2 singles match to Renee Joseph was her first singles defeat of the season.

The loss drops the women’s record to 6-2. The women’s team will play Western Illinois at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Men’s tennis wins first outdoor match

The Eastern men’s tennis team beat Xavier (La.) 7-2 in New Orleans on Thursday, pushing its season record to 6-5.

The match was also the Panthers’ first outdoor match of the season.

After collecting the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches, the Panthers went on to win five of six singles contests, losing only at No. 6 singles.

Eastern senior Chris Thompson battled back to win his No. 5 singles match after losing the first set 0-6.

Junior Vuk Milicevic said he thought the team made the adjustment from indoor to outdoor play well.

“It was definitely one of our best matches of the season,” Milicevic said.

The men’s next match will be its Ohio Valley Conference opener against Tennessee-Martin at 1 p.m. Friday.