Eastern’s women’s tennis team is taking its four-match winning streak into its match against Butler Tuesday.

“(Butler) is a team that we are absolutely capable of defeating even though it hasn’t happened in the past,” said coach Brian Holzgrafe. “Injuries right now are killing us; this is really going to be something that they are going to dig deep and pull together to combat.”

Besides injuries, the Panthers will have to overcome the memory of their last meeting with Butler (5-8) when they lost 6-1. Butler will be a different team than what Eastern saw last year because of losing four senior players to graduation.

Butler has three freshmen, three juniors, and only one senior in its lineup. They are led by junior Christine Laun who moved into the No. 1 singles position after playing at No. 2 last year. Laun also received All-Horizon League first team honors last season.

Even though the Panthers have combated with injuries, they are currently ranked No. 1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Panthers (8-2, 2-0) have won eight out of their last nine matches while their No. 1 player Jana Matouskova saw limited action because of foot problems.

“It says something for the girls that are in the lineup to how much they are stepping up and filling that void,” Holzgrafe said.

Holzgrafe attributes the continued success primarily because of the elevation of play of their No. 2 player Becky Brunner. Brunner has filled Matouskova’s void by defeating two No. 1 players.

“Jana has been injured the whole time. We haven’t had her,” Holzgrafe said. “Beck is now stepping up to the number one and having a solid undefeated record.”

In addition to Brunner stepping up, Eastern has also received solid contributions from No. 3 and No. 5 players in the lineup Becky Carlson and Sarah Freeman according to Holzgrafe.

“We’ve had people like (Carlson) and (Freeman) have really been stepping up,” Holzgrafe said.

“At times they have just been passing the hat,” Holzgrafe said. “What is key is that we’ve stayed focused during the entire season.”

The match is set to begin at 3 p.m.