The Eastern men’s and women’s tennis teams still couldn’t use Darling Courts on Sunday.

Because weather has damaged the courts, Eastern’s matches against Tennessee State were relegated to Lantz Fieldhouse.

But the Panthers used it to their advantage as both the men’s and women’s teams defeated TSU.

The Eastern men’s team won 6-0.

Because the match was played indoors, both coaches decided prior to the match to play singles competitions first and would forego doubles play if the match’s outcome had already been decided.

Eastern won all six singles matches, so doubles was not played. Some of the men’s players had discussed the Tigers’ poor start to the season before the match, but junior Vuk Milicevic said it did not cause the team to take its opponent lightly.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing the best or the worst team in the nation,” Milicevic said. “You’ve still got to get the job done.”

The men’s team (10-6, 4-1 Ohio Valley Conference) has begun to gather momentum in the conference, having won its last three matches. Sunday’s match marked the midway point for Eastern in OVC play. The Panthers won Friday, 5-2, against Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky.

Milicevic said he feels good about how the team is playing in the OVC.

“I think it’s a fantastic start to the season,” Milicevic said.

In the women’s match, TSU scored its first point of the season via a forfeit in No. 6 singles.

Eastern coach John Blackburn rested some of his players and elected to forfeit the final singles match. After singles, the match had been decided 5-1 in Eastern’s favor, so the doubles was not played.

The women’s win came after the squad’s second-worst loss of the season, when they fell to Eastern Kentucky 6-1 on Friday.

The women’s tennis team (10-4, 3-2 OVC) began the season with five straight victories, but since the winning streak ended, it has won five of its last nine matches.

Senior Sandra Sasidharan said the women’s team has been playing against better competition lately.

Sasidharan said she feels the team members’ efforts cannot be questioned, and they now have a better idea of what they need to do to achieve success.

“It’s definitely giving us a clearer picture of how hard we need to keep working to improve,” Sasidharan said. “I think we’re going in the right direction.”

While the men’s and women’s tennis teams have still not had the opportunity to play at Darling Courts, Eastern will play its first outdoor home match at 3 p.m. on Wednesday against Chicago State – weather permitting.

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