The Eastern women’s tennis team won two matches during the weekend, which extended its winning streak to five and matched the team’s best start to a season in six years.

The Panthers defeated Bradley 4-3, sweeping the three doubles matches on Friday. Then on Sunday, Eastern picked up another victory, beating Chicago State 5-2.

In both matches, Eastern was able to win all three doubles matches. The Panthers now have a 13-2 doubles record in their first five matches.

At 5-0 to start its season, Eastern tied its best stretch beginning a year since 2008, when the Panthers went on to finish 14-7 overall.

Following a 4-3 win against Bradley on Friday, Eastern traveled north to play at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club against Chicago State.

Senior Janelle Prisner and junior Sephora Boulbahaiem set the table for the Panthers, winning their No. 1 doubles match 8-6. The Eastern duo defeated freshman Kirsa Utech and senior Karyn Emeralda.

A pair of Eastern sophomores followed with an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles, as Ali Foster and Hannah Kimbrough won their fourth doubles match of the season.

Freshmen Kelly Iden and Kamile Stadalninkaite completed the doubles sweep with an 8-6 win.

Prisner, Iden, Boulbahaiem and Foster also won their singles matches at No. 1-4 spots, respectively.

The Panther women started their winning weekend at the Clubs at River City in Peoria, where Eastern had singles wins from Prisner, Iden and Foster to go along with three doubles wins.

Foster remained undefeated in singles matches this season at 5-0, while Prisner and Iden are tied for the second best record at 4-1.

Following the weekend, the duo of Prisner and Boulbahaiem also stayed perfect in doubles play, racking up a 5-0 record.

The women’s team will play at noon Saturday against Indianapolis at the UIndy Tennis Center.

Southern Illinois-Carbondale snapped the Eastern men’s tennis team’s two-match winning streak, winning 5-2 Saturday, improving to 4-4 on the season.

With the loss, the Panther men dropped to 3-3, while Southern won its fourth straight home match.

The Salukis won all three doubles matches 6-4, 8-4 and 8-2, respectively.

Eastern men’s tennis coach Eric Stark said Southern was more assertive coming out in doubles play.

“I think we had some great individual efforts today, but came out flat in doubles, while SIU played and moved great and were the more aggressive squad,” Stark said in a press release.

Following a sweep in doubles competition, Southern won the first three spots in singles matches.

At No. 2 and 3 singles matches, Eastern’s Ryan Henderson and Grant Thompson took the match to three sets, but ultimately lost.

After missing Eastern’s match against Dayton on Feb. 16, Robert Skolik returned for the Panthers and collected a three-set win over Szymon Opieczonek. After losing the first set 7-6, Skolik responded with 6-2 and 10-8 set wins, securing the match.

Senior Kevin Bauman won the other match for the Eastern men at No. 6 singles. He defeated Rafael Cuadrillero in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

After six matches, Bauman has the team’s best singles record at 4-2.

Stark said he is looking forward to practice this week after the team had a lackluster match against the Salukis.

“We lacked team energy today and we were too inconsistent,” Stark said. “I look forward to seeing what kind of effort the guys bring to practice this week and see what we can do to get better.”

Eastern’s next match starts at 1 p.m. on March 5, in Peoria against Bradley.

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