Panther tennis had their hands full this weekend as both the men and women squads fell to a couple Ohio Valley Conference foes, Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.

The men came into this weekend looking to improve their conference record to 2-1 but were unable to claw past the competition.

Their first stop took them to Richmond, Ky., on Saturday as they fell to the hands of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 5-2.

Senior Jeff Rutherford and freshman Michael Sperry were the lone Panthers to earn points in the match.

Rutherford won his match over Colonels sophomore Niklas Schroeder 4-6, 6-1, (11-9) and Michael Sperry defeated sophomore Parul Verma in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

Head coach John Blackburn noticed the strong play from his senior and commended him.

“Jeff had a great weekend going back to Kentucky where he is from,” Blackburn said. “He is from Richmond where EKU is.”

After the defeat in Richmond, the Panthers jumped back on traveled to Morehead, Ky., where they faced off with the Eagles.

The Eagles de-clawed the Panthers on Sunday defeating Eastern 5-2.

Rutherford was once again successful in singles play beating Morehead State red-shirt senior Greg Anderson 6-7 (0-6), 6-3, 6-4.

Matyas Hilgert was responsible for Eastern’s other singles point, defeating sophomore Nathan Blum in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

The Panthers were unsuccessful in picking up a doubles point against Morehead State but had several chances.

“Against Morehead, we had a lot of chances to win that doubles point,” Blackburn said. “We just didn’t quite finish.”

After this weekend, the Panther men dropped to 3-12 overall on the season with a 0-3 OVC record.

They will be back in action Sunday to host Jacksonville State at 10 a.m. on Darling Courts.

The women’s squad was swept this weekend starting with Eastern Kentucky Saturday.

The Panthers fell to the Colonels 5-2 with the only singles win coming off the racket of Annie Egan as she bested freshman Esmira Gheisary 6-1, 5-7, (10-7).

Eastern’s other point came out of the doubles play and Blackburn took notice.

“The women played good doubles Saturday against EKU,” Blackburn said.

The Panthers then faced Morehead State where they looked to have better success.

The Eagles soared past the Panthers, sweeping the match 7-0.

Blackburn did not see his team adjust to Morehead’s game plan.

“The women didn’t do a very good job in reacting to what Morehead was doing,” Blackburn said.

The women’s squad dropped to 4-9 overall on the season with a 1-2 OVC record.

Blackburn sees what his two squads need to improve on for their next match.

“I think the women need to work on singles and for the men they just need a good week of practice to prepare for the next one,” Blackburn said.

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