The Ohio Valley Conference tournament is what the Eastern men’s and women’s tennis teams are gearing up for going into their final match of the regular season against Eastern Kentucky.

The Panthers will host the Colonels 10 a.m. Saturday at Darling Courts .

“This match (with Eastern Kentucky) is going to be very important,” head coach Brian Holzgrafe said. “This is going to have a conference tone although we play a lot of matches over the year.”

The Panther’s men’s team (9-6, 5-1) is looking to redeem its 2-5 regular season loss to Eastern Kentucky (12-7, 3-2) a year ago.

The men’s team is looking to secure a high seed in the OVC Tournament, April 24-26 in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee Tech has won all four of its OVC matches and look, to be the top seed.

According to Holzgrafe, for the first time this season both of his teams are relatively healthy. The men had some nagging injuries earlier in the season to players such as No. 1 singles player C.J. Weber who experienced tendinitis in his elbow, and No. 3 player Lukasz Pluta who experienced an injury in the loss to Murray State April 5.

The women’s team is currently tied for third in the OVC with Eastern Kentucky, but hopes for a victory against the Colonels are high with the return of No. 1 player Jana Matouskova from injury. She should have an impact on a team that won six of its first eight games Holzgrafe said.

“As far as injury goes, they are all coming into their own,” Holzgrafe said. “We’re pretty healthy on both sides right now.”

The women’s team played against Eastern Kentucky three times last season and came away winning two of those three contests with one of those victories coming in the OVC Tournament.

Holzgrafe said the Eastern Kentucky match is important because of the higher seed in the conference tournament that both the men and women are gunning for.

“We’re above them. We give them a chance to redeem the whole season in a three-hour span,” Holzgrafe said. “We have to finish what we continued. The conference performance thus far, despite the setbacks, we’re in a good light and this is the year to do it.”