The women’s tennis team came up just short on senior day Saturday, after a dominant performance Friday.

Eastern swept Murray State 7-0 Friday, although the matches were more competitive than the score shows.

Senior day brought less fortune for the Panthers.

They were defeated by Austin Peay 4-3. The Governors clinched the doubles point early, which ended up being the deciding factor in the match.

Senior Kelly Iden and freshman Stella Cliffe were defeated by Ana Albertson and Helena Kuppig 6-1. Pugachevsky and Slaria were defeated by Lidia Yanes Garcia and Isabela Jovanovic 6-3.

Iden came in at her No. 1 singles spot as usual. The senior was defeated by Lidia Garcia 6-0, 6-2.

Junior Grace Summers had one of the more thrilling matches of the day, defeating Claudia, the other Garcia twin, in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“My second serve was staying consistent. I just kept the ball deep until I got the short ball to put it away,” Summers said.

Cliffe was defeated, but not without putting up a fight. The freshman was defeated by Kuppig 2-6, 6-4, 4-6, in a match that lasted over two hours.

Sophomore Shristi Slaria defeated Brittney Covington 6-1, 6-3.

“I was able to set up the point better (than her), I was able to move her which helped me. I was more patient, I wasn’t going for the winner,” Slaria said.

Pugachevsky earned another victory from her No. 6 spot. She defeated Jovanovic 6-2, 7-6 (5-3) to remain undefeated in OVC play at 6-0.

“Things were not going well (in the second set) I just had to push through it and get the balls in. I needed to get the win for the team,” Pugachevsky said.

Saturday’s win was Pugachevsky’s seventh straight victory in singles.

Although the Panthers were narrowly defeated, coach Emily Wang believes this was a positive step moving forward.

“We fought really hard until the very end on all courts. (Austin Peay) are tough players, they executed just a little bit better than us,” Wang said.

The duo of Summers and senior Kamile Stadalninkaite got things started off right Friday in doubles, defeating Anja Loncarevic and Amina Hadzic in straight sets, 6-0.

Iden and Cliffe finished off the doubles point, defeating Claire Chang and Alina Schibol 6-2.

With the doubles wins, both Panther duos have passed the double digit mark in wins this season.

Iden started things off for the Panthers from her No. 1 spot. The senior defeated Loncarevic in a solid second and third set, after dropping the first set 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-1.

Summers backed that up with a win over Chang, winning 6-2, 7-5.

Cliffe went three sets with Hadzic with two tie breaks. Thirty total points were scored in their tie breaks, with Cliffe going on to eventually win in a strong third set 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 6-1.

Sophomore Srishti Slaria came in at the No. 4 spot and defeated Schibol 7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-4.

Moshteva was up next, she defeated Jeanne Masson 6-1, 6-3.

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