The Eastern men’s and women’s tennis team maintained their No. 1 ranking in the Ohio Valley Conference with a home victory over Tennessee State Thursday at Darling Courts.

Eastern’s men (7-6, 3-1) and women (9-4, 3-1) were able to control the entire match against the over-matched Tigers for a pair of 7-0 wins.

Two of the Panther’s men key players, No. 1 C.J. Weber and No. 3 Lukasz Pluta, battled injuries and illnesses to help their team defeat the Tigers (0-10, 0-4), the lowest-rated team in the OVC.

Weber was battling the effects flu-like symptoms as well as a case of tendinitis in the elbow. Pluta was sore from his previous match in Eastern’s meet with Murray State last Saturday when he landed awkwardly.

“I thought we played very well,” Weber said. “It was good especially for a couple of guys who were struggling on the team. I think (during the match today) we were able to get a good win to gain momentum going into tougher matches in the future.”

Eastern head coach Brian Holzgrafe thought Weber was able to really elevate his level of play Thursday even though he has been battling nagging injuries.

“C.J. stepped it up to come out and put a decent set together,”Holzgrafe said. “His ability to play that mental game has grown so much. He was one of the most confident players on our team. It just so happens we are one of the lucky teams that has two or three players that are confident.”

Weber along with No. 2 Brandon Blankenbaker combined in the No. 1 doubles match to defeat the Tigers’ No. 1 combo of Jamaal Brown and John Meadows by a score of 8-4. It was the closest any of the Tigers doubles teams came to defeating the Panthers.

Eastern’s No. 2 team of Colin Priestner and Jason Girardin won 8-2 and the No. 3 team of Matt Sadler and Pluta shut out their opponents 8-0.

The women’s team paralleled the men’s success.

The Panthers women’s team won every match and every set in both doubles and singles despite the absences of their No. 1 player Jana Matouskova.

“This was an important win, especially for the girls,” Holzgrafe said. “With the women’s side being injured this is exactly the type of match that we needed, a match with no pressure.”

Junior Becky Brunner stepped into Matouskova’s tennis shoes for the No. 1 match against Tennessee State’s Danette Rachael, earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

The women’s doubles teams had even more success than the men’s. The three teams allowed the Tigers to win just three games in three matches.

Brunner teamed with Amber Lenfert to win the No. 1 match 8-0, Sarah Freeman and Becky Carlson won the No. 2 match 8-1 and Jill Wirtz and Audra Koerner won 8-2.

“The objective changes when you have a difference in level that is obvious and that is to win with class,” Holzgrafe said.

Eastern will host its next match Friday against Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne at 2 p.m. at Darling Courts.