Ball State Tennis (HTML)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Despite still in the midst of a typically frigid Illinois winter, the Eastern Illinois men's tennis squad will travel to Ball State on Sunday to officially open the spring portion of the 2011 schedule. First serve is set for 3 pm (CST) inside the YMCA in Muncie, Ind.

“We're really excited to get started with the season this weekend at Ball State,” said head coach John Blackburn, entering his sixth season as skipper of the Panthers.

“We finished the fall a lot stronger than we started it and we're hoping to carry that over into this weekend. We still have a young team, so I expect these guys to improve more and more as the season goes along, but we have high expectations for ourselves this weekend as well.”

The Panthers return six players from the 2010 squad that finished 4-15 overall and 1-6 in OVC dual meets. They include senior doubles specialist Vance Davis, juniors Jamie Firth and Matyas Hilgert, sophomores Andy Bays, Warren Race and Michael Sperry.

Sperry sports the top returning singles mark from last season, as the then-freshman went 9-10 overall, playing most at either the No. 5 or 6 spot. He also finished 3-4 overall in doubles, teaming with Firth at No. 3 duos.

Meanwhile, newcomers include freshmen Kevin Bauman, Charlie Dryden and Volodymyr Zverkovsky.

“We've been working hard on establishing a team and individual approaches to the duals this semester, I think the guys have accepted the approach and are excited about it, I'll be interested to see how well we execute these things on Sunday.”

Last season, EIU dropped a 6-1 road contest to the Cardinals, who eventually finished with a 16-10 mark last year. Ball State recently opened their own spring schedule last Sunday, losing at No. 59-Ranked Northwestern, 6-1.

The Sunday opener begins a stretch of nine consecutive road dual meets in January thru early March before the Panthers host Chicago State on March 10 at EIU's own Rex Darling Courts.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID