After the Eastern men’s tennis squad dropped its first match of the season at Purdue 6-coach Eric Stark still had optimistic feelings going forward.

The Panthers (0-1) head into Muncie, Ind. at the YMCA Tennis Center this Sunday for a matchup against the Cardinals of Ball State at 12 p.m. in a non-conference match-up.

Ball State defeated Detroit on Jan. 17 but have two more opponents before Eastern comes to town.

The Cardinals travel just 45 minutes north from Charleston to Champaign on Friday to take on Wisconsin-Green Bay and Illinois, a team they lost to in last season’s NCAA Tournament. They take on the Panthers two days later.

After the Purdue match, Stark said the match was a great learning experience. The Panthers look to grow some more against an undefeated Cardinal team.

“Ball State is a very tough team. They are well coached and never beat themselves,” said Stark.

Against Purdue, Eastern failed to win a doubles match and that has been emphasized in practice this week.

“​We are working at being more aggressive and decisive in doubles. I think we played ok against Purdue in doubles, [but] our energy and aggressive movement was just not quite there,” he said.

The Panthers will look to finish strong against Ball State, which was something they couldn’t do against Purdue.

Stark mentioned multiple matches against Purdue where they led at one point but could not finish out their matches.

“Preston [Touliatos] was up 5-2 on Diego and got a little tight, that is a set I know he will win next time. Ryan [Henderson] didn’t get to play out his third set, but I’m confident that is the kind of match he will win for us in the upcoming year,” Stark said.

Stark said he is looking forward to getting back out there and seeing what the team has learned from last week.

“This match is going to come down to a handful of big points, we will just have to see how we handle the pressure,” Stark said. “We need to come ready and be prepared to play long points and not to give anything away.”

Cody Delmendo can be reached at 581-2812 and [email protected].