The Eastern women’s tennis team will begin its fall season at the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Fall Tournament under a new coach.

Eastern will have a new coach after former coach and director of tennis John Blackburn took a coaching job at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., over the summer.

The Panthers have five events on their schedule including two home matches against Murray State and St. Louis on Nov. 26 at Darling Courts.

Eastern will also head to the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Fall Tournament on Oct. 10. Starting on Oct. 22 through Oct. 24, the Panthers will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., and compete at the ITA Regional, which is hosted by the University of Michigan.

The Panthers will be returning everybody from last season except recent graduate Sephora Boulbahaiem.

Senior Ali Foster is the key returner from last season as she went 16-4 overall in singles and has a 36-13 career record overall.

Sophomore Grace Summers finished her first season with a 12-7 singles record and a 7-3 record in Ohio Valley Conference play.

Eastern finished its season with a 13-7 record overall and a 7-3 record in OVC play.

The Panthers defeated Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 4-3, in the first round of the OVC tournament last season but were knocked out by Murray State in the OVC Semifinal.

There has been no announcement of who will be the next women’s coach for Eastern.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu