COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois men's tennis dropped its Ohio Valley Conference opener on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers lost 6-1 at Tennessee Tech.
After losing the doubles point with wins by TTU at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, EIU was able to secure its first point against TTU in match play since the 2016 season.
Tyler Carlin won the opening set 6-3 against Andre Rodeia at No. 4 singles and was leading 2-1 in the second set when Roedia retired handing the match and point to Carlin.
Pau Riera battled at No. 6 singles nearly handing the Panthers a second point in the match. Riera won the opening set 7-6 with a 7-4 tiebreak. Jun Sasagawa would bounce back to win the second set 6-3 and then the third set by a 10-8 count.
Christos Kyrillou pushed his second set at No. 2 singles to a 7-5 count before losing in two sets.
EIU fell to 3-17 overall, 0-1 in the OVC. The Panthers travel to Austin Peay to resume conference play next weekend. TTU improved to 3-9 overall, 1-0 in the OVC.
