The women’s tennis team opened play on Saturday and after weather forced the invite to a two-day format, the Panther’s finished play on Sunday afternoon.

Freshman Stella Cliffe, Sophomore Shristi Slaria, Senior Maria Moshteva, Freshman Emily Pugachevsky, Senior Kamile Stadalninkaite, and Sophomore Abby Carpenter were all in singles and doubles action Saturday, as well as Sunday.

Cliffe, Slaria, Moshteva, and Stadalninkaite played three singles and three doubles on both Saturday and Sunday.

Pugachevsky played two singles and two doubles both days, as she was eased back from injury. Carpenter played three singles and two doubles on both days.

The invite matches were Cliffe and Pugachevsky’s first matches as college athletes, with Pugachevsky earning her first career win Saturday against Bradley’s Malini Wijesinghe (6-4, 6-4).

The Panthers other victories came in singles by Carpenter against Bradley’s Kathryn Adelman (6-4, 7-6) and in doubles by Slaria and Cliffe against Bradley’s Aimee Manfredo and Ariel Dechter. (6-1).

The two statistically most successful players for Eastern were sidelined with illness. Junior Grace Summers and Senior Kelly Iden were both ruled out before the meet by Coach Emily Wang.

Both Iden and Summers are expected to be back, as well as play at peak performance when they are fully healthy and ready to go. The fact that Pugachevsky gained a win in her first invite as a college athlete speaks to the amount of time that goes in to preparation at practice even if you are not set to play in the scheduled event.

Coach Wang was asked about the injuries and sidelining ailments.

“We are working hard to rehab and heal the current injuries and will do some preventative strengthening work in order to keep injuries to a minimum,” she said.

The Panthers next matches are this Friday as they head to SIUC for the Saluki Fall Classic.

Parker Valentine can be reached at 581-2812 or pivalentine@eiu.edu