The Eastern men’s tennis team dropped two matches over the weekend to Valparaiso and Michigan State and fell to 0-6 on the season.

“We played two very good teams, one ranked in Michigan State and one which in my mind, is right outside of being ranked in Valparaiso, and we played them not at full strength,” Eastern coach Eric Stark said.

Valparaiso handled the Panthers by defeating them 7-0 in the first match of the day at the Courts of NWI and improving to 4-0 on the season.

The Panthers could not control the double’s point after being defeated by the No.1 and No. 2 doubles teams from Valparaiso.

“I am a little disappointed in doubles at Valpo. We had chances in both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to serve for the match and couldn’t close the door,” Stark said.

Valporaiso sophomore’s Jeffrey Schorsch and Charlie Emhardt kicked off doubles play with a 6-3 victory over junior Robert Skolik and freshman Preston Touliatos. Sophomore Dave Bacalla and freshman Chase Hamilton earned a 7-5 victory at No. 2 doubles over junior’s Ryan Henderson and Rui Silva.

After taking three of the six singles matches against Indianapolis last week, Eastern got swept by the Crusaders in singles matches. Some matches were handled easily.

Bacalla defeated Skolik 6-3, 6-3, Schorsch defeated Henderson 6-3, 6-1, and junior Michael Savaglio defeated freshman Trent Reiman 6-3, 6-3 in competitive matches.

Freshman Garrett Gardner defeated Touliatos, 6-3, 0-6, 10-5 in the one and only tiebreaker from the day.

No. 4 and No. 5 matches showed no difficulty for Valparaiso though when Lucas Waak defeated Rui Silva 6-1, 6-1, and sophomore Kyle Dunn defeated Grant Reiman 6-2, 6-0.

Michigan State came into their match against Eastern on a four-game winning streak, which already included a victory against Ball State earlier that Saturday afternoon.

Later that night, nothing changed for the No. 60 ranked Spartans as they defeated the Panthers easily with a 7-0 victory, extending their winning streak to five games.

One positive moment for the Panthers was their victory in the first doubles match for Skolik and Touliatos.

“I like the growth from Preston [Touliatos] this weekend. I thought Preston and Rob [Skolik] played a fantastic doubles match against Michigan State’s No. 1 team,” said Stark.

The Panther No. 1 doubles of duo took the first match 6-3 over Michigan State sophomore Brett Forman and senior Gijs Linders.

The final two doubles matches fell short for the Panthers losing 6-2, and 6-0 in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches.

Freshman Michael Dube and sophomore Mac Roy defeated Henderson and Silva. Senior Doug Zade and sophomore Jasper Koenen defeated Grant Rieman and Trent Reiman.

Singles matches got no easier for Eastern as they were swept for the second time of the day against the Spartans.

The No. 76 ranked singles tennis player in the nation, Linders, was forced to a tiebreaker by Skolik, but eventually defeated him 7-6, 6-0 but defeated Skolik 7-6, 7-2, 6-0.

The rest of the Panthers lost to the Spartans in the No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 opponents Michigan State showed.

Forman defeated Henderson 6-0, 6-2. Dube defeated Silva 6-1, 6-2. Koenen defeated freshman Jared Woodson 6-1, 6-0 and Zade defeated Grant Reiman 6-1, 6-0.

The Panthers now have a week to prepare for the Illinois State Redbirds in an in-state rival match-up, Sunday Feb. 15 at the Evergreen Racquet Club in Normal, Ill.

“We should take a huge confidence boost in knowing we can play with the best. I think this team has the belief now we can play with anyone. Our conference is very strong and these past few weeks should give us the confidence we need to feel like we belong at the top,”

Cody Delmendo can be reached at 581-2812 or cddelmendo@eiu.edu.