The Eastern men’s tennis team goes for two-straight victories Wednesday in Edwardsville for a matchup against Southern Illinois at noon.

The Panthers come in at 3-10 on the season with their most recent match against Murray State Sunday.

The Cougars come in at 7-7 on the season and come off a 4-3 loss against Austin Peay Saturday. SIUE comes in having lost six of their last eight matches.

“I think we proved that this past weekend against two quality opponents, we aren’t focused on wins, if we come out and do the right things, we have a chance to be right at the top of this conference,” Eastern coach Eric Stark said.

Both teams come in with two conference wins against both Murray State and Tennessee State.

“SIUE is always a tough place to play, but we are certainly looking forward to it. They are a very strong doubles team so I’m looking for us to come out ready to match their energy and intensity from the very first point,” Stark said.

Last season, Eastern took the loss to the Cougars, 5-2, on April 10, which gave them a 6-8 overall record at the time.

Despite the struggles the team has suffered in doubles matches all season, singles matches have been the most consistent sign from the Panthers.

Junior Robert Skolik leads the team in singles-match wins with a record of 7-6 and goes for his seventh-straight singles-match win against the Cougars.

Freshman Preston Touliatos has won five of his last seven singles matches as well and goes for his third-straight singles win against SIUE.

Eastern’s doubles record currently sits at 7-25 but the team nabbed two victories in a row after sweeping Murray State on Sunday.

The duo of Skolik and Touliatos has won four of Eastern’s seven doubles wins.

The Panthers currently sit at third place in OVC standings behind Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky, who are both undefeated in conference play and the only teams in conference with records above .500.

The Cougars sit right behind the Panthers in fourth place.

“You can’t really predict the future in this conference because every match is always so close. If we put in the work, we will be in every match,” Stark said.

Edwardsville is led by freshman Jack Desse who is 5-4 overall this season and is on a three-game win streak. Also, freshman Tristan Houle is 15-9 on the season with a 1-2 record in conference play.

Cougar junior Patrick Gaffigan and sophomore Matthew Hutchinson are 12-5 in doubles matches this season and 3-0 in conference play.

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