The Eastern women’s tennis team closed out its non-conference portion of the schedule with a 6-1 win over Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis on Tuesday, bringing the Panthers to an overall record of 4-6 on the season.

Wind becomes factor early on

Aside from temperatures being in the 80s, the wind became a factor throughout the meet, affecting both the Panthers and the Jaguars. Junior Merritt Whitley said the wind added an extra challenge during the match.

“The wind was really difficult,” she said. “The wind was kind of a challenge, to say the least. It just kind of made you have to play tougher, kind of grind more, make sure you’re prepared earlier for your shot, and it made you have to have really good footwork. It was a challenge, but I think we all handled it pretty well.”

Whitley said the wind became a challenge in her singles match against IUPUI’s Alisha Cummings, which she won by scores of 6-1 and 6-2.

“I thought singles went pretty good. It was a bit of a challenge with the wind, but I definitely battled through it,” she said. “I just kind of buckled down, got through every point, kept my focus and did what I needed to do to get the win.”

Dibbs continues to improve

Senior Amanda Dibbs came away with wins in both singles and doubles. Dibbs defeated IUPUI’s Shelby Hullett, while she and partner Annie Egan, also a senior, took down Vanessa Whyte and Abbey Neff.

“Amanda Dibbs, she had a really good day battling ,” Whitley said. “She was down in the first set 5-2, and then she just came back and just dominated. I think it was a really big win for her.”

Team excited to play at home

Whitley said the team was excited to play its first match of the season at Darling Courts.

“It was very exciting,” she said. “We had a pretty good crowd, we had beautiful weather for the most part, besides the wind. I thought the energy was really good with the team. We were all really pumped and motivated for our first home match, so I think it went really well.”

The Panthers will play at Darling Courts five more times this season, all against Ohio Valley Conference opponents.

The Panthers will continue play this weekend against OVC opponenents Jacksonville State and Tennessee State. The match against Jacksonville State starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, while the match against Tennessee State starts at 11 a.m. Sunday. Both matches will be at Darling Courts.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.