EIU vs. APSU OVC Tournament Match
NASHVILLE – Eastern Illinois men's tennis won its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament match since the 2004 season on Friday afternoon as the fifth-seeded Panthers beat number four seed Austin Peay, 4-2, at the Centennial SportsPlex in Nashville. EIU will play top seed Tennessee Tech in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
EIU battled all afternoon against an Austin Peay team the Panthers have not won against since the 2009 season as they jumped out 1-0 in the match winning the doubles point.
Gage Kingsmith and
Daniel Hernandez won the deciding match at number two doubles as they won 7-5 over Christian Edison and Timo Kiesslich.
Freddie O'Brien and
Logan Charbonneau had won 6-1 at the number three doubles position while Austin Peay won at number one doubles.
In singles play EIU would get the needed points in the match from the bottom portion of its line-up. Hernandez won at number three singles with a 7-5, 6-2, win over Anton Damberg to pick up his 13th singles win of the season.
Kingsmith and Charbonneau secured points at number five and number six singles locking up the match. Kingsmith won 6-4, 7-6 at number five singles beating Jacob Lorino, 6-4, 7-6. Charbonneau won his match at number six singles by a 7-5, 6-2 score.
APSU would win points at number two and four singles while the match between
Freddie O'Brien and Almantas Ozelis at number one singles was left unfinished as the Panthers clinched the win.
EIU improves to 14-14 on the season. Austin Peay ends the year at 6-15.
