| PANTHER MEN at CHICAGO STATE |
| Details | at CSU | 4 p.m. | Sat., Feb. 28, 2015 | H-F Racquet Club | Homewood-Flossmoor, Ill. |
| EIU info | 0-8 Overall | News | Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
| CSU info | 7-6 Overall | Website |
| -- |
| PANTHER WOMEN at BUTLER & WESTERN ILLINOIS |
| Details | at BU | 3 p.m. | Fri., Feb. 27, 2015 | Butler Bubble | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| at WIU | 3 p.m. | Sat., Feb. 28, 2015 | Lakeside Recreation Facility | Galesburg, Ill. |
| EIU info | 2-3 Overall | News | Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
| BU info | 1-6 Overall | Website |
| WIU info | 3-2 Overall | Website |
CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois men's and women's tennis continues indoor action this coming weekend, with the ladies set to travel to Butler on Friday (Feb. 27) and Western Illinois on Saturday (Feb. 28), while the men will also be in action on Saturday, with a 4 p.m. contest at Chicago State. The Panther guy's match versus Saint Louis, originally scheduled for Sunday has now been rescheduled for March 28.
The Panther men sit at 0-8 on the season, while the Eastern ladies enter the weekend at 2-3 overall.
For the women's competition, Butler owns a 3-7 season mark which includes wins over Dayton and Indianapolis, while the Leathernecks of WIU are just 1-9 overall, prior to a Saturday match against IUPUI, with their lone victory coming against UW-Green Bay.
On the guy's side, prior to a pair of matches this afternoon, the Chicago State men are 2-11 thus far this spring.
Through eight matches in the season, the Panther lineup at No. 3 and No. 4 own a team-best 3-5 mark, with four different Panthers sitting at 2-6 on the year. While in doubles, the team of junior Robert Skolik and newcomer Preston Touliatos are 2-6 overall at the top of the duo lineup.
Meanwhile, junior Ali Foster leads all Panthers with a perfect 3-0 record at the No. 3 spot in the EIU lineup, while an even 1-1 at No. 4 to own a combined 4-1 singles tally. Senior Sephora Boulbahaiem also sports a winning record at 3-2, including a 3-0 record at No. 4 singles. When Foster is joined by classmate Hannah Kimbrough, the Eastern twosome are 4-1 overall in doubles, including a perfect 4-0 mark at the No. 2 spot.
"We're excited to get right back out on the court this weekend and play two more matches," said director of tennis and head women's coach John Blackburn. "We learned a lot about ourselves last weekend and how we can improve on some things, so I expect us to play hard and be an improved team this coming weekend."
IDEN EARNS PRESEASON ALL-OHIO VALLEY RECOGNITION
Sophomore Kelly Iden will represent all Panthers on the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Top 10 Player LIst, as announced by the league office this morning (Feb. 26). The Fishers, Ind., native earned a No. 8 rank as voted on by the conference head coaches, as she earned an 11-6 overall and 6-4 OVC mark during her freshman campaign last spring. She finished with a perfect 6-0 record at the No. 3 lineup spot and went 10-6 overall in doubles play as well.
"Kelly has been working extremely hard and rapidly improving in her first year and a half with our program," said Blackburn. "I think being mentioned among the top players in our conference is definitely something she has earned and I'm excited about her potential with conference season coming up."
2015 OVC Women's Top 10 Preseason Player Rankings
(as voted by the league's head coaches)
1. Hitomi Naito ... Tokyo, Japan ... UT Martin
2. Andrea Eskauriatza ... Veracruz, Mexico ... Murray State
3. Amandine Faouzi ... Mareil Sur Mauldre, France ... Eastern Kentucky
4. Kristina Labeja ... Riga, Latvia ... Eastern Kentucky
5. Eleonore Tchakarova ... Sofía, Bulgaria ... Murray State
6. Lexi Aranda ... Longwood, Florida ... SIUE
7. Andre Leblanc ...Mexico City, Mexico ... Morehead State
8. KELLY IDEN ... FISHERS, INDIANA ... EASTERN ILLINOIS
9. Ornella DiSalvo ...Cordoba, Argentina ... Austin Peay
10. Burcu Tari ...Istanbul, Turkey ... UT Martin
PANTHER MEN & WOMEN PICKED EIGHTH & SEVENTH IN PRESEASON
The EIU men and women earned respective eighth and seventh place marks in the OVC Preseason Predicted Order of Finish Poll, which was announced today (Feb. 26) by the conference office.
Both units advanced to the end-of-season league championship last season as respective #6-Seeds, with the guys losing a tough 4-3 match to Austin Peay, while the ladies fell to Morehead State, 4-1, after earning the #6-Seed off an even 5-5 mark in conference.
2015 OVC Men's Tennis Predicted Order of Finish
(as voted by the league's head coaches, with point poll totals in parenthesis)
1. Belmont (59)
Jacksonville State (59)
3. Austin Peay (52)
4. Tennessee Tech (43)
5. Eastern Kentucky (39)
6. SIUE (31)
7. Morehead State (30)
8. EASTERN ILLINOIS (27)
9. Murray State (14)
10. Tennessee State (8)
2015 OVC Women's Tennis Predicted Order of Finish
(as voted by the league's head coaches, with point poll totals in parenthesis)
1. Murray State (70)
2. Eastern Kentucky (64)
3. Morehead State (53)
4. UT Martin (49)
5. SIUE (47)
6. Jacksonville State (44)
7. EASTERN ILLINOIS (40)
8. Austin Peay (25)
9. Southeast Missouri (24)
10. Belmont (16)
11. Tennessee State (8)
UP NEXT ON THE PANTHER SCHEDULE
Next week, the men head to Southern Illinois on Wednesday (March 4) for a rescheduled 1 p.m. contest, while the ladies are scheduled to entertain the Cougars of CSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday (March 7)
.... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
