For the first time since 2009, the Eastern men’s tennis team advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, after splitting its final two home matches of the season during the weekend.

The Panther men solidified their spot in the postseason tournament with a 7-0 win against Tennessee State, Saturday at the Charleston High School Courts.

The Eastern women entered the weekend needing to win their final two matches to make the OVC tournament and they did, beating Tennessee State 7-0 Saturday and then defeating Belmont 5-1 Sunday.

The men’s squad finished its regular season 7-9 overall and 4-5 in the OVC, while the women ended with an 11-5 record and 5-5 mark in conference play.

Saturday’s matches

The Eastern men’s and women’s tennis teams each recorded 7-0 match wins against Tennessee State’s squads Saturday at the Charleston High School Courts.

With the win by the Panther men punched their ticket into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, as they improved to 4-4 in the conference. The men lost 4-2 against Belmont on Sunday, dropping to 4-5 in the OVC.

Meanwhile, the Eastern women’s team improved to 4-5 in the OVC and increased its chances to advance to the postseason tournament, needing to win Sunday’s match to get into the tournament.

Tennessee State’s women’s and men’s teams both fell to 0-14 overall.

The Eastern men won five singles matches, as the sixth was not played because Tennessee State forfeited the singles match. The same thing happened during the women’s match.

In the Panthers’ five singles wins, four came in straight sets.

Junior David Constantinescu won his match at the No. 5 flight 6-0, 6-0, wrapping up the win for the Panthers.

Sophomore Moritz Kandt, freshman Grant Thompson, senior Kevin Bauman and senior Vova Zverkovsky each won their singles matches at flights No. 1-4.

The Eastern women won all of their five single matches in straight sets.

Senior Janelle Prisner won her singles match 6-3, 6-1. Junior Sephora Boulbahaiem followed with a 6-3, 6-4 match win and then freshman Kelly Iden blanked the first set of her match 6-0 before closing out the match with a 6-4 set win.

Sophomore Hannah Kimbrough and freshman Maria Moshteva finished the sweep at No. 4 and 5 flights.

OVC tournament

The Eastern women’s and men’s team enter the Ohio Valley Tournament as the No. 6 seeds in their respective brackets.

The men’s squad plays against No. 3 seed Austin Peay, starting at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Heflin Tennis Center in Paducah, Ky. The Eastern women play its first-round match against No. 3 seed Morehead State at 2 p.m. Thursday at the same facility.

Jacksonville State and Belmont are the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, in the men’s tournament, while Murray State and Eastern Kentucky are the top two seeds in the women’s tournament.

Those four teams will receive a first-round bye.

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