The Eastern men’s tennis team lost in a close match yesterday to Bradley University, 4-3, in Peoria.

Eastern walked away from the match in Peoria with a 2-8 overall record on the season, unable to snap a six-match losing streak.

On the other side of the court, the Braves were successful in snapping their losing streak, ending it at four matches, improving their record to 3-7 this season.

In singles play, senior Jeff Rutherford and freshman Justin Haag were the lone winners.

Rutherford beat his opponent Milos Romic in a tight match winning 6-4, 7-6 (2-0).

Eastern head coach John Blackburn said he was impressed with Rutherford’s play against Romic.

“Jeff beat a very challenging opponent, a guy who he lost to last year,” Blackburn said. “That was a big win.”

Haag continued his hot streak as he defeated Eric Nguyen in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, moving his overall singles record to 8-2, a team-high.

“Justin continues to have a good year for us,” Blackburn said. “He has a strong win/loss record.”

Eastern captured the doubles point of the match, something that they have struggled with throughout the season.

“It was a big positive that we won our second consecutive doubles point,” Blackburn said.

The Panthers’ Rutherford-Haag doubles team was successful in beating Callen Fraychineaud and Brock Reiman, 8-4.

The other Eastern pair to take home a doubles win was sophomore Jamie Firth and freshman Warren Race. The duo beat Bradley’s Juan Cuadrado and Richard Robertson, 8-5.

“I think that their play (Rutherford and Haag) and the play of the doubles was the highlight of the day,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn said that the team was just simply outplayed but realizes its mistakes on the court.

“I think they just played better than us as a group,” Blackburn said. “We can probably do a better job of being consistent and to stick to our game plan.”

The Panthers will be back in action Friday as they hit the road again to take on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars at 6 p.m. in Indianapolis.

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