EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Eastern Illinois men's tennis made its first appearance in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament since the 2019 season count on Friday afternoon as the Panthers picked up a 4-2 win over Austin Peay to open play at the 2022 OVC Tournament played at the Wesselman Tennis Center.
EIU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match winning the doubles point. The Governors won the first doubles match at No. 3 before EIU evened play with a 6-4 win by
Cameron Slabbert and
Charles Courteau at No. 2 doubles.
Christos Kyrillou and
Thomas Wallace then clinched the first point with a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles. It was the tenth doubles win this season for the pair at No. 1 doubles. Earlier this week they were named one of the All-OVC doubles teams.
Kyrillou, Wallace and Slabbert would all then play pivotal roles in singles action for the Panthers.
After APSU knotted the match at 1-1 with a win at No. 1 singles, Kyrillou picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles to put the Panthers back up in the match at 2-1.
Wallace moved in to play at No. 6 singles and collected a 6-2, 6-1 win to bring the Panthers within one point of the win.
APSU won at No. 4 singles to cut the advantage to 3-2 before Slabbert slammed the door for the win at No. 3 singles. Slabbert won 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the overall match for EIU.
Pau Riera played at No. 5 singles for EIU and had his match left unfinished at 4-6, 6-3 headed to a third set.
EIU will face No. 1 seed Belmont on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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