The Eastern men and women’s tennis teams traveled to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Saturday and both earned 5-1 victories over the Cougars.

With the win on Saturday, the Panther men improved to 2-1 overall this season.

Due to time constraints, there were no doubles matches on Saturday, but the Panthers were not worried because they won five of six singles matches.

Leading the men were senior Jeff Rutherford and sophomore Matyas Hilgert, as they both won their respected matches in straight sets.

Rutherford beat the Cougars’ Paulo Gonzalez, 6-1, 6-2, and Hilgret defeated Mike Chamberlain 6-2, 6-3.

Sophomore Jamie Firth won his match over Carlos Sanchez. Despite dropping the first set, 4-6, Firth rallied back to win the final two sets 6-3, 6-3.

“I didn’t really have such a good day on the court, but I still managed to find a way to win,” Firth said.

Firth said the Panther men won their matches after they had been ready and focused going into the weekend’s matches against the Cougars.

“The team did a real good job of keeping focus on what they were doing and pulled out a win,” Firth said.

On the women’s side, the Panthers cruised past the Cougars to earn their first win of the season, 5-1.

The team was led by sophomore Juliana Frey and freshman Merritt Whitley who each one in straight sets against their opponents.

Frey defeated Kelsey Laird 6-1, 6-0, and Whitley sailed past Amanda Miller as she won her match 6-1, 6-1.

The closest match of the day was between Eastern sophomore Annie Egan and the Cougars’ Ali Wulfers. Egan fought her way to victory in three close sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Eastern’s tennis action will continue for the men on Friday when they travel to St. Louis to battle Saint Louis at 4 p.m.

The Panthers will continue their road trip Saturday as they will travel to Normal to play Illinois State 1:30 p.m.The women’s team will also return to the court Friday, as they too will be taking on Saint Louis.

Dane Urban can be reached at 581-7944 or dcurban@eiu.edu.

Head tennis coach John Blackburn speaks to the women’s tennis team during a break in practice Jan. 25. Both the women’s and men’s tennis teams had 5-1 victories over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Saturday. (Danny Damiani/The Daily Eastern News)

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