The Eastern men’s and women’s tennis teams lost to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 5-2 and 4-3, respectively, Thursday night at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign.

The loss for the Eastern women, dropped the Panthers to 9-5 this season and 3-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Cougars improved to 10-8 overall and 5-3 in conference play, winning their fourth straight OVC match.

Despite the Eastern women winning the doubles point, the Cougars won four of the six singles matches to come back and get the win.

Senior Janelle Prisner and freshman Kelly Iden won their singles matches at the No. 1 and No. 2 flights, respectively.

The Eastern men dropped under .500 in the OVC with its 5-2 loss to Edwardsville, falling to 3-4 against conference opponents and 6-8 overall.

Freshman Grant Thompson and sophomore Rui Silva won their singles matches for Eastern, but the Panthers lost the four remaining singles matches. The Eastern men also lost the doubles point, as the Cougars won two of the three doubles matches.

The Edwardsville men also improved to 10-8 this season and 4-3 in the OVC.

Entering Thursday’s match, Eastern and Edwardsville were tied for fifth place in the OVC, but now the Panthers are tied with Tennessee Tech for sixth place.

The Eastern women entered tied for sixth place with Tennessee-Martin, but with the loss the Panthers are now out of the top six teams in the conference and thus for now out of the postseason picture with two matches remaining.

The Edwardsville women remain in fourth place with the win.

The Eastern men will finish their regular-season schedule with their last two home matches starting at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Charleston High School Courts, as the Panthers host Tennessee State and Belmont.

The women’s squad closes out its season, playing against Tennessee State and Belmont as well. Saturday’s match against the Tigers begins at 10 a.m. and Sunday’s match against the Bruins starts at 11 a.m. at the Charleston High School Courts.

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