The Eastern men’s tennis team will begin its conference season Friday at Tennessee State.

The Panthers’ conference schedule makes up all but two of the remaining on their schedule.

Eastern coach Eric Stark has said the conference season is what matters most all season but matches against some tough teams in non-conference were great learning periods for his squad.

“It’s the Ohio Valley Conference so we don’t take any match lightly,” Stark said.  “Tennessee State is no exception, if we come out with energy and aggression we will be in a great position to come away with a win.”

The Panthers non-conference season was not what Eastern wanted in terms of wins and losses going a 1-8 during that stretch, which included losing eight straight before their most recent match at Chicago State on February 28.

During the eight-match losing streak, Stark talked about the importance of the conference season their record was not a factor at that point.

“We are not thinking in terms of wins and losses,” Stark said. “We are gearing up for the start of conference play in a few weeks.”

Tennessee State comes into this matchup winless in four tries this season.

The Tigers enter their conference season 0-4 after experiencing a few cancellations with Dayton, Alabama State and the Florida A&M Tournament.

Tennessee State’s latest match ended in a 3-4 loss against South Dakota State on March 10. Eastern has been off for 12 days after matches against Southern Illinois-Carbondale and Saint Louis were postponed to later dates.

Eastern was scheduled to play Belmont on Saturday for a back-to-back, but was postponed to a later date in the season.

“We have had some of the best practices of the year the past couple of weeks and are looking forward to the start of conference,” Stark said. “It’s always nice to start conference play with a win, I think the guys are focused and motivated to come out and start conference play the right way.”

The Panthers look to build on their recent win and stay atop the conference standings at 8 a.m. at APSU Indoor Tennis Center.

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