Eastern men’s tennis lost their seventh-straight game Sunday afternoon at Illinois State losing 6-1 at Evergreen Racquet Club in Bloomington-Normal, Ill. The Panthers now sit at 0-7 on the season with four games left in their non-conference schedule.

Before the match, coach Eric Stark stressed about starting the match great in the doubles area.

“Illinois State is a good solid team, we just have to come out with a combined team effort with a good start in doubles and the rest will take care of itself,” Stark said.

Eastern took the No. 2 doubles match but fell in the No. 1 and No. 3 matches to drop the doubles point.

Juniors Ryan Henderson and Rui Silva got their first doubles win of the season over Muddappa Appanervanda and Rodrigo Oliveira, 7-6, in the No. 2 match.

Jakub Eisner and Rolando Torrellas defeated junior Robert Skolik and freshman Preston Touliatos, 7-5, and Dylan Steffens and Christoffer Greve took down freshmen Grant Reiman and Trent Reiman, 6-3, in the third doubles match.

Preston Touliatos continued to show improvement this season with the lone victory in singles. Touliatos defeated Jacob Wilson 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a tiebreaker in the No. 3 match.

Skolik also went to a tiebreaker but fell to Eisner 7-5, 7-6, 10-3 in the No. 1 singles match.

Illinois State moved to 4-3 on the season, which includes a three-game winning streak with Louisville next up on their schedule.

Despite the seven-game losing streak, Stark continues to stay positive and is still focused on the task at hand.

“We aren’t going to fear playing anyone the rest of the year. The record may not show it, but we have been playing some really good tennis at levels higher than last year’s team,” he said.

In the No. 5 singles match, Rolando Torrellas defeated senior David Constantinescu, 6-2, 6-2.

Illinois State junior Rodrigo Oliveira and freshman Andreas Boers followed with straight-set wins of their own, with Oliveira defeating Silva, 7-6, 6-1, and Boers defeating Grant Reiman, 6-4, 6-2.

The Panthers will be in action next weekend at Southern Illinois at Sports Blast in Carbondale, Ill.

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