CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Both the Eastern Illinois men's and women's tennis squads are set to open up the official 2013 spring schedule against Ball State and Evansville, respectively, this coming weekend.

On Friday (Jan. 25), the Panther women will entertain Evansville at 4 p.m. (CST), with the match to be held inside the nearby Wabash Valley Tennis Center in Terre Haute, Ind.  The contest will also mark the spring opener for the Purple Aces.

Then Saturday (Jan. 26) afternoon, the EIU men travel to face Ball State at 2 p.m. (CST), with the contest held in the Muncie YMCA.  While it marks the season-opener for EIU, the Cardinals currently sport a 0-2 mark prior to hosting Detroit Mercy on Friday.

“Both teams are very excited to get the season started," said EIU head coach John Blackburn.  "There has been a lot of energy in practice and we're looking forward to competing against other schools and seeing how where our teams rate versus competition. Both the Evansville women and Ball State men are very solid teams that we have a lot of respect for, so we're looking forward to competing.”

Both the Eastern men and women will look to improve on their respective 4-13 (2-6 Ohio Valley Conference) and 9-10 (5-4 OVC) marks, which included a trip to the end-of-season league championship for the Panther women.

The men return five players from last season's squad, including junior Kevin Bauman, who returns with the top dual mark of 6-5 last season.  Playing mostly at No. 4 Singles, he registered a 3-5 record in conference action and begins the spring season on a three-match winning streak in singles.  When teamed with senior Warren Race, the duo also registered a nice 8-4 record in doubles last spring, including an even 4-4 OVC tally.

Other returners for the guys include senior Michael Sperry, junior Volodymyr Zverkovsky and sophomore David Constantinescu.

The women will be paced by two returning All-OVC honorees -- junior Merritt Whitley and senior Janelle Prisner.  The twosome both registered 6-3 marks in league play last spring, as Prisner owned a 12-6 overall record at the top of the singles lineup, while Whitley nabbed an 11-7 mark at the No. 2 spot.

The duo also earned an excellent 7-2 doubles record at No. 1 play in conference action.  Their 13-6 overall record included a 8-2 mark over the course of their last ten matches.

Junior Jennifer Kim also returns following her 5-3 OVC record in singles, where she split time in the middle of the pack between No. 3-5, while going 9-9 overall.  Senior Kristen Laird and sophomore Sephora Boulbahaiem round out the Panther returners, as Laird registered a 5-4 conference record last year.

Eight newcomers also hope to make an immediate impact for both the men and women squads this spring.  They include Alex Curtis, Ali Foster, Ryan Henderson, Hannah Kimbrough, Rui Silva, Robert Skolik, Jacob Wendell, and junior college transfer Anthony Hallam.

Last year, Evansville and Ball State finished with respective 13-8 and 18-10 records, as both the Purple Ace women and Cardinal men defeated the Panthers by scores of 5-2 and 7-0.  Meeting for the fourth straight time in as many seasons,  the BSU men are actually riding a three-match win streak over Eastern since 2010, as the two Midwest squads have recently renewed their rivalry.

Following this weekend's season openers, the EIU men will travel to Saint Louis for a 7 p.m. match on Feb. 2, as the Panther women will next face in state rival Illinois State on Feb. 3 at  1 p.m.

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