The Eastern women’s tennis team will host two matches this Saturday at the Darling Courts taking on Murray State and Saint Louis University.

The Panthers will take their first look at Murray State for the Racers’ first Ohio Valley Conference matchup at 8 a.m. and then face Saint Louis University for the second time this season at 3 p.m.

The Panthers look to improve their play from the last tournament, the SIU Edwardsville Fall Invitational, where they lost to two of the three teams, one of those teams being Saint Louis.

Eastern did have some success last weekend as every girl who played in singles was able to come away with a win.

Sophomore Grace Summers and freshman Srishti Slaria both finished the weekend 2-1.

Despite the losses, coach Emily Wang was happy with how the team performed but knows that they could improve.

“We’ve been working hard since the last tournament,” Wang said. “We’re looking to put away balls on opportunities and have been focusing on consistency.”

The Panthers know that point play will be the key to winning and that the hard work that they put in in practice will show on the court.

“If the shots fall in, you’ll end up with a good result,” Freshman Leah Lines said. “We’re definitely ready to compete with anybody.”

Wang said that the team has been more motivated and is looking for redemption in this tournament.

“This will be a good tournament to see where we’re at and where the teams around us are at,” Wang said.

The Panthers have a break that Wang said will be good for the team to get some rest while Murray State faces Saint Louis right after their match with Eastern.

Saint Louis will not have a break and will be taking on the Panthers right after their match with the Racers.

The Panthers have two more tournaments after this matchup, the next one coming up on Oct. 10^th at SIU Carbondale and then the ITA regional in Ann Arbor, Michigan Oct. 22nd-24^th.

Tyler McCluskey can be reached at 581-2812 or trmccluskey@eiu.edu