After a week-long spring break, Eastern men’s tennis seems to have finally found a way to pull out some victories after starting the season 1-8.

Over the break, the squad went 2-2, which included their first conference win at Tennessee State. The Panthers won easily with a 5-1 victory.

Eastern moved on to Southern Illinois later that week and fell 5-2 to the Salukis from Carbondale in a game that was originally supposed to take place back in February.

The loss gave their non-conference record a scary 2-9 overall record. After their spilt against Austin Peay and Murray State, the Panthers now sit at 3-10 overall.

Though their record may look bad, coach Eric Stark still has plenty of faith that the team will make the OVC tournament and continue to grow as a team in the six matches remaining.

Three of their six matches remaining are at home at the Darling Courts.

After their most recent match against Murray State, Stark said they know every match ahead is going to be tough.

“We know going into every conference match, it is going to be a war,” Stark said.

Players like junior Robert Skolik, junior Ryan Henderson and freshman Preston Touliatos have stepped up their game, mostly in singles matches.

Skolik has won six straight singles matches with wins against Toledo, Chicago State, Tennessee State, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, Austin Peay and Murray State. All the wins have never needed a tiebreaker.

“Rob is one of the hardest working kids I’ve seen.  He has come a long way from his freshman year and is playing some of his best tennis right now.  I think he will only continue to get better this year and next,” Stark said.

Skolik said there have been multiple reasons for his successes this season.

“I’m playing with the most confidence I’ve ever had. I put some long, hard days in the offseason with the hope I would be feeling this way come conference time and it’s finally starting to pay off,” Skolik. “I think my fitness along with experience has really contributed to this streak,” he said.

The Panthers need at least four conference wins to make the OVC Tournament which means Eastern has five tries to get four more wins.

The squad goes for conference win No. 3 on Wednesday at 12 p.m. in Edwardsville for a matchup against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.   

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