Eastern’s interim director of tennis Sam Kercheval announced Monday afternoon that he will not be returning to his position at Eastern as he will be taking a new position at Notre Dame.

Kercheval was hired as Eastern’s interim director of tennis in August of 2015. This past spring, Kercheval coached both men and women tennis leading both squads to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. 

Jacksonville State 4-0 knocked the men out the first round. But, the women had better results against the Gamecocks as the two teams faced off with Eastern coming out in top 4-2. 

The women’s season came to close in the next round to Eastern Kentucky 4-0.

Kercheval has coached players such as Freddie O’Brien this past spring and Robert Skolik in 2016 to second team All-OVC, while also coaching Skolik to the 2nd Team Academic All-American in 2016 and coached 2nd Team Academic All-American Grace Summers this past spring.

But, more breaking news came in Monday afternoon. Eastern Athletic Director Tom Michael announced the hiring of Chris Tolson as the new head coach for the women’s tennis program.  Tolson comes to Eastern following six seasons as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix.

Since starting the program at Arizona Christian University, Tolson has produced 27 ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association nationally ranked players and been named the Coach of the Year two times.

Vince Lovergine can be reached at 581-2812 or vplovergine@eiu.edu