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Eastern Illinois men's tennis will flip the script in Horizon League play as the Panthers begin the second half of Horizon League play facing Tennessee State and Belmont, the two teams it wrapped up the first half of league play with last weekend in Nashville.
  
EIU enters at 5-10 on the season, 1-4 in the Horizon League after losing both matches in Music City last weekend.  EIU lost 6-1 at Belmont and 7-0 at TSU.
 
EIU hosts Tennessee State on Friday morning at 11 a.m. followed by Belmont coming to town on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Both matches are currently scheduled to be played at Rex Darling Courts on EIU's campus.
 
In the match at Belmont, Thomas Wallace secured the lone point with a two-set win at No. 5 singles. He would loss in three sets on Sunday at Tennessee State.  Wallace is now 3-2 in Horizon League singles play and 8-7 overall.
 
Alex Dinkov battled in his match on Sunday losing in three sets at No. 4 singles.  Dinkov is 2-3 in Horizon League singles play.  Dinkov is 5-7 overall in singles play.
 
Pau Riera is second on the team in singles wins with six. 
 
Belmont leads the all-time series between the two schools 11-0.  EIU and TSU have met 24 previous times with the Panthers holding a 20-4 all-time lead in the series.
 
Belmont enters the weekend 14-5 overall, 5-0 in the Horizon League.  Tennessee State is 7-12 overall, 3-2 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.