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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Friday's tightly contested Ohio Valley Conference men's tennis match between Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State came down to the third set of the final match before TSU was able to edge EIU 4-3 in the match played at EIU's Darling Tennis Courts.
 
It was EIU's first home outdoor match this season as the Panthers are now 3-17 overall, 0-3 in the OVC.  EIU will host Belmont on Saturday.  TSU improved to 4-18 overall, 1-2 in the OVC.
 
After TSU won the No. 3 doubles match, EIU was able to square the doubles with a win by Christos Kyrillou and Thomas Wallace at No. 1 doubles with the pair winning 6-4.   Cameron Slabbert and Charles Courteau then picked up a 7-5 win at No. 2 doubles to give EIU the overall doubles point.
 
In singles play TSU quickly jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the match winning at No. 2, No. 1 and No. 6 singles.
 
Slabbert cut into the TSU lead with his win at No. 3 singles over Maksims Kaziiievs.  Slabbert won 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
 
Pau Riera evened the overall match at 3-3 with his win at No. 5 singles.  Riera had a three-set win over Pierre Copin winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
 
The deciding match then went down to a final set at No. 4 singles.  Charles Courteau held an early lead in the third set but could not hold on for the win as Nil Moinet came back to win 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to clinch the point and match for TSU.