The Eastern women’s tennis team will play Southern Illinois-Carbondale Friday afternoon, looking for its best to start to its season in eight years.

Following 4-3 and 9-0 wins against Illinois State and Saint Francis, respectively, the Panthers travel to Danville to take on the Salukis, who enter the match at 0-2.

The last time Eastern started its season at 3-0 was in 2008. The 2008 Eastern team won four straight matches before losing for the first time.

Senior Janelle Prisner, sophomore Kelly Iden and freshman Ali Foster have all won both of their singles matches in Eastern’s first two wins.

The Panthers are coming off a 9-0 win against Saint Francis on Sunday, when every player won in straight sets. Foster and sophomore Hannah Kimbrough did not lose a game in their No. 4 and 5 singles’ matches.

Southern has yet to win a singles match, losing 7-0 and 4-0 to Arkansas and North Texas, respectively, on Saturday.

Junior Natasha Tomishima and senior Korey Love teamed up for Southern’s lone win, which came at No. 1 doubles against North Texas.

Last season Eastern traveled to Carbondale, where the Salukis swept the Panthers, losing all six singles matches and three doubles matches.

Tomishima, Love, along with junior Gisela Cairo Baza and senior Anita Lee all played against Eastern in last year’s match.

First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at the Danville Tennis Center in Danville.

The Eastern men’s tennis team is coming off a 7-0 loss at Michigan State and will once again play on the road for the third straight match to start its season.

The Panther men play against Ball State on Saturday. The Cardinals have won their last four matches against the Panthers, dating back to 2010.

Eastern has split its first two matches this year, while Ball State has suffered two straight losses after beginning its season 2-0.

Ball State last played against Michigan State, which defeated the Cardinals 7-0, on Saturday.

Cleveland State also beat Ball State a week before the Spartan matchup by a score of 5-2.

Senior Kevin Bauman and a pair of sophomores in Robert Skolik and Ryan Henderson lead Eastern. They won each of their respective singles matches, which helped the Panthers in a 4-3 win against Saint Louis to start the season.

Last season Ball State won 7-0 in Eastern’s season-opening match.

There are three out of the seven players that competed against Eastern last season in Ball State’s current roster in juniors Ray Leonard and Patrick Elliott and senior Austin Smith.

The Cardinals will host the Panthers at noon Saturday in the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center in Muncie, Ind.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]