Eastern women’s tennis team is coming off a season opening win against Southern Illinois-Carbondale 5-2.

The Panthers’ wins came from senior Kelly Iden, sophomore Shristi Slaria, freshman Stella Cliffe and senior Kamile Stadalninkaite in singles play. The teams of Iden and Cliffe and Stadalninkaite and junior Grace Summers notched the Panther victories in doubles.

The Panthers are now looking forward to their matches, set to start this weekend.

“We are very excited after our success against SIU Carbondale. However, we will remain focused in practice this week and continue improving. We look forward to our matches next weekend,” said Iden.

The Panthers start their weekend this Friday against Dayton, with their first match beginning at 5 p.m.

Dayton is coming into this match after suffering a season opening loss to Wright State (3-4).

The Flyers finished the 2016 spring season with a record of 14-9.

Dayton then went 1-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, losing to VCU (0-4) after defeating Fordham University (4-3).

The Flyers are a veteran group with four seniors and three juniors on the 11-player roster.

With more than half the roster having over two years of experience, the Panthers know they must be sharp and intangibly sound.

The group is led by junior stand out Jade Kawamoto, who made second team All-A-10 with an overall record of 16-4 in singles play last season.

The last time the Panthers competed against Dayton was in the 2015 spring season, where they defeated the Flyers 4-3.

The Panthers continue their weekend on Saturday against Dayton’s week one opponent, Wright State, starting at 2:30 p.m.

Wright State is coming off a sweep by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-0) after defeating Dayton last weekend (4-3).

Junior Karoline Haller, who made first team all-horizon-league as a sophomore, leads the Raiders. Haller finished with a record of 23-14 majorly from the No. 1 spot in the 2015-2016 season.

The Panthers are in unfamiliar territory against Wright State as none of the athletes on the current roster have competed against the Raiders.

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