The men’s and women’s tennis teams continued to struggle this weekend, both dropping their first Ohio Valley Conference matchup against the University of Tennessee-Martin in their first home meet of the season.

The women were defeated 7-0 by Tennessee-Martin while the men fell 6-1, winning only at the No. 2 singles position.

“The ladies went out there and didn’t play to our potential,” Panther head coach Brian Holzgrafe said. “We’re starting to come into our own. It was a cold day and they kind of played that way. These seven girls can be competitive, but they just weren’t.”

Despite the loss, Holzgrafe saw effort put forth by several players, including freshman Sarah Freeman and sophomore Amber Lenfert, who both took their competitors to three sets before dropping to the Skyhawks.

Holzgrafe looks at this as a starting point for the team, who will now face competition every other day over the next two weeks.

The men opened doubles competition with a loss at the No. 1 position and a win at the No. 3 position, but their hope for the doubles point was shattered when the No. 2 position fell after leading for much of the competition against Tennessee-Martin.

“The guys lost the No. 1 doubles, which had been our strength, but we won at No. 3, so it depended on No. 2,” Holzgrafe said. “They had an answer for the first 11 games they played, but Tennessee-Martin had a good tennis team.”

While the team felt it was still early as singles play began, Eastern’s hopes were again diminished as their No. 1 player, sophomore C.J. Weber, went out with an ankle injury.

“C.J. fell and was out. It looks like he strained his ankle, and he will be sorely missed,” Holzgrafe said.

It could be two weeks before Weber will return to competition.

“We go out there and No. 1 C.J. is a very capable player and would win,” Holzgrafe said.

“He never loses to someone he’s not supposed to lose to, and he can beat people he probably wasn’t supposed to beat.”

Junior Lukasz Pluta took the lone win at the No. 2 position. Sophomore Brandon Blankenbaker won his first set, but eventually lost the match while seniors Kyle White, Andy Baker and Jason Braun all took losses for the 6-1 Eastern defeat.

“We have all the heart and effort, but we need more time to see things go our way,” Holzgrafe said. “In time, this team will start to come through in those situations.”

Both the men and women will begin their string of competition Tuesday as they host Chicago State.