The Eastern men’s tennis team knew what it needed to do to win.

The Panthers just couldn’t do it.

Eastern’s season came to an end Friday after narrowly losing 4-3 to Jacksonville State in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Championships in Nashville, Tenn.

The defeat leaves a bitter taste for the Panthers. They lost to the Gamecocks 4-3 on April 6, with JSU winning the doubles point in both contests.

Senior Sean Bush said he and his teammates knew how tough it would be to defeat JSU after the April 6 match. They were simply unable to execute.

“We knew what we were going to get,” Bush said. “We knew doubles was going to be important.”

Eastern head coach John Blackburn said his team played well, but JSU narrowly outplayed the Panthers.

He said Eastern was ahead at one point in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles before going on to drop the doubles point.

“We played a good team and came up a little short,” Blackburn said. “They just played a little bit better than us.”

Singles play was also similar as junior Jordan Nestrud and freshmen Robert Stedman and Felipe Gama picked up Eastern’s wins in both matches.

Nestrud and Stedman earned Second Team All-OVC honors on Thursday, while sophomore