Eastern Illinois men's tennis continues Horizon League play this weekend as the Panthers will go on the road for the first time for conference play with a weekend trip to Nashville. EIU will play at Belmont on Saturday with a 3 pm start followed by a Sunday morning match at Tennessee State at 10 am.
EIU enters at 5-8 on the season, 1-2 in the Horizon League after picking up its first conference win of the season last Saturday with a 4-3 win over Lindenwood.
Against Lindenwood, EIU fell behind in the match before winning four straight singles points to clinch the match with
Thomas Wallace's win at No. 5 singles. It was the seventh singles win of the season for the senior including a 6-3 record at the No. 5 spot in the Panthers order. Wallace is one of two Panthers players now with a 2-1 record in Horizon League play joining
Alex Dinkov (2-1 HL and 5-5 overall).
EIU also secured wins in the top three spots in the playing order.
Cameron Slabbert won in three sets at No. 1 singles.
Pau Riera won in two sets at No. 2 singles including a tie-break in the opening set.
Tyler Carlin had a two set win at No. 3 singles.
Belmont leads the all-time series between the two schools 10-0 with all previous meetings as OVC members. EIU and TSU have met 23 previous times with the Panthers holding a 20-3 all-time lead in the series.
Belmont enters the weekend 12-5 overall, 3-0 in the Horizon League. Tennessee State is 5-12 overall, 1-2 in the Horizon League.
This season the remaining Ohio Valley Conference men's tennis members will be playing as affiliate members of the Horizon League with the membership was divided into a North and South Division based on conference affiliation. The OVC schools will play in the South Division while the Horizon League schools play in the North Division. The top three finishers in each division will then advance to the Horizon League Tournament on April 28-30 in Ann Arbor, Michigan to play for the NCAA automatic bid.
Belmont (an affiliate OVC member in men's tennis) was selected first in the South Division followed by Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State. Eastern Illinois was tabbed fourth followed by Southern Indiana and Lindenwood.
Cleveland State was selected first in the North Division followed by Youngtown State. IUPUI and Northern Kentucky tied for third in the preseason poll with Chicago State selected fifth.
Schools began playing a home-and-home series with each team in their Division for conference play last weekend.
