The Eastern men’s tennis team is still hopeful despite starting the season 1-8, which includes eight straight losses before their first victory.

Coach Eric Stark said the Panthers are focused on having a different conference season compared to their non-conference season.

“We don’t see wins and losses, if we do everything we are supposed to then we will set ourselves up to be successful,” Stark said. “We are gearing up for the start of conference play in a few weeks. If we work hard, play hard and fight for every point, we will be in for a successful conference season.”

The Panthers will have plenty of time to prepare for their next matchup at Tennessee State because of recent weather conditions.

Matches against Saint Louis and Southern Illinois were both postponed to until dates in March. Southern Illinois was originally postponed from Feb. 21 to March 4 but was then pushed back again to March 17.

The match against Saint Louis originally scheduled for March 1 was moved to March 28 and will be played at the Darling Courts instead of the Danville Tennis Center.

This gives Eastern nine days to prepare for their next match, which is also their first conference matches well.

Stark said he had high expectations from his team coming into the season back on Jan. 11.

“We had the highest finish in five years last year, and we are changing our expectations from trying to get into the OVC Tournament to looking to compete for a title,” Stark said.

The only win Eastern has was on February 28 at Chicago State, which snapped the losing streak.   

Stark and players were nothing but positive through the losing streak.

Preston Touliatos said he has remained positive despite how the season has gone so far.

“We’ve played three ranked teams and the other teams we have played are very close to that. I believe once we get that win, we’ll take it and run with it for a long time,” Touliatos said.

Touliatos has been a small bright spot early on this season. He has been apart of three of four victories in doubles matches with his partner junior Robert Skolik in the No. 1 spot.

The Panthers overall are a 5-20 in doubles matches on the season.

Singles matches are slightly better but nothing to get excited about. Eastern is 14-38 overall in singles matches with Touliatos and Skolik leading the team with three victories each.

Trent Reiman said the goal all year is to win the OVC Tournament and continues to be despite this bad stretch.

“My goals for our team is to compete as hard as we can and give it all we have,” Reiman said.

If the Panthers want to win the OVC Tournament, they will need to build off their most current victory at Chicago State.

Eastern’s next match will take place at Tennessee State University March 13. The Golden Eagles come in with a 5-13 record.

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