The Eastern’s women’s tennis team will send two competitors to the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional.

This will mark the return of senior Merritt Whitley to tournament action on Thursday at the University of Illinois. 

Whitley missed the women’s first tournament at the SIU-Edwardsville Fall Invitational in mid-September, but won the two matches she competed in against Southern Indiana in her only action this year. 

The senior will look to continue her solid play after a strong junior campaign in which she sported an overall 11-9 record in singles and tied her teammate junior Janelle Prisner for best league mark at 6-3. 

Head coach John Blackburn said he is looking forward to seeing Whitley play after missing the SIU-E Fall Invitational. 

The senior will be joined at the regional by her sophomore teammate Sephora Boulbahaiem. 

The Belgium native has rebounded this fall after she struggled during her first year. 

After an overall singles record of 5-8 during the 2011-2012 season, Boulbahaiem has recorded two wins at the No. 1 spot in singles play in the SIU-E Fall Invitational.

Boulbahaiem has also outclassed her Southern Indiana opponent by only losing two games as she won in straight sets. 

Blackburn said he is looking forward to seeing Boulbahaiem and Whitley compete at the regional. 

Boulbahaiem and Whitley are both in the qualify draw in the singles competition and are in the main draw of the doubles portion of the competition. 

Despite the women not competing since the end of September, Blackburn said the players have remained focused. 

“We have had more intra-squad scrimmages to keep the players sharp and practicing hard has also helped the players keep focus,” Blackburn said. 

The extra practice and increased intra-squad action has been for both the women’s and men’s team. 

The men’s tennis team was scheduled to compete at the ITA Regional hosted by Michigan State, but have opted to withdraw from the competition.

“The reason we decided not to compete [at Michigan State] is because we are trying to put all of our focus on the spring tournaments,” Blackburn said.

Boulbahaiem and Whitley will begin their singles play on Thursday and the doubles competition will start Friday. 

The tournament will feature 24 schools across the Midwest including the Illinois women’s team, who will be hosting. 

Players will vie for a spot in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships, Nov., 8-11 at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY. 

The tournament will end on Tuesday Oct., 23 and all the action will take place at the Atkins Tennis Center.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.