The Eastern women’s tennis team split Ohio Valley Conference action during the weekend, beating Southeast Missouri 5-2 and losing to Tennessee-Martin 5-2 at the Charleston High School Courts.

Following a loss to the Skyhawks, Eastern bounced back to win Sunday afternoon against the Redhawks to improve to 9-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

The 5-2 loss was Southeast Missouri’s fourth straight match defeat and dropped the Redhawks to 3-4 in the OVC.

The Eastern women won four of the six singles matches, losing only at the No. 2 and No. 6 flights against Southeast Missouri.

Senior Janelle Prinser and junior Sephora Boulbahaiem each recorded wins in singles play at the No. 1 and No. 3 flights.

The Panthers were able to capture the doubles point of the match, winning two of the three doubles matches.

Eastern has been successful in doubles play this season, winning most of the team doubles point in the OVC and in overall play as well.

Prisner and junior Boulbahaiem and sophomores Ali Foster and Hannah Kimbrough locked the doubles point, winning their matches 8-1 and 8-2, respectively.

Foster and Kimbrough also added to Eastern’s win total in singles competition, as the sophomore duo hit past their opponents in straight sets.

On Saturday, the Panthers lost the doubles point and lost four of the six singles matches.

Freshmen Kamile Stadalninkaite and Kelly Iden won their singles matches at the No. 3 and No. 6 flights for Eastern.

Tennessee-Martin had to fight its way to the match win, needing to go to three sets in two of their four singles wins.

The Skyhawks are also 3-4 in the OVC after they lost Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Sunday.

Eastern was scheduled to play against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Thursday, but the match had to be rescheduled to April 10.

The Eastern women as well as the men’s team will play the Cougars, starting at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Atkins Tennis Center, which is located in the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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