The Eastern men’s tennis team took its second-straight loss in league play at Belmont Tuesday afternoon, losing 6-1.

The Panthers now sit at 3-12 overall and 2-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference after winning their first two conference matches.

Belmont moved back to .500 with an 8-8 overall record and a 3-3 record in conference play, moving past Eastern.

The Panthers moved near the bottom of the OVC standings with only Murray State and Tennessee Tech below them, who are winless in conference matches.

With four conference games left, Eastern still needs two more victories to make the OVC tournament.

The Panthers struggled once again in doubles taking losses in both the No. 1 and No. 3 spot. The No. 2 spot went unfinished.

Junior Robert Skolik’s hot streak finally ended as he lost in both doubles and singles matches.

Skolik and freshman Preston Touliatos took a tough loss in the No. 1 doubles spot, losing 8-6 to Mauricio Antun and Marko Lovrinovic. The No. 1 duo for Belmont moved to 11-11 overall, which leads the team while going 3-1 against conference opponents.

Skolik and Touliatos now sit at 5-9 in doubles matches, which leads the Panthers. Eastern’s doubles record now sits at 7-27.

“They came out strong and we showed up in doubles,” Skolik said. “Once they got the doubles point they took all the momentum, and we struggled to take any ourselves.”

He said it’s all about timing for the doubles teams this year and that’s why they have struggled.

“The previous two years we would all play good on the same days and bad on the same days, but this year has been different,” Skolik said. “Usually one team shows up really strong like [Henderson] and [Silva] did today and the other two teams can’t get it done.”

The Panthers came away unsuccessful in singles matches as well after nearly getting swept through the lineup until freshman Grant Reiman defeated Geoff Tulloch 6-1, 6-4, in the No. 6 spot.

Skolik had his seven-match singles win streak snapped by Belmont’s No. 1 player Antun in two close games 6-4, 6-3. Skolik’s overall record now sits at 8-7 in singles matches, which leads the team.

“I knew he would be tough,” Skolik said. “I came in expecting to win but he was on another level for sure.”

Antun went undefeated last season for Belmont and earned OVC Player of the Year for the Bruins as well.

The Panthers will try to end their two-game skid Thursday as they travel to Tennessee Tech for a match at 1 p.m. at the Tech Courts.

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