The Eastern men’s tennis team split its first home series of the season against Austin Peay and Murray State this weekend at the Darling Courts.

The Panthers took a 4-3 loss against Austin Peay and picked up the victory against Murray State, 6-1.

Eastern now sits at 3-10 on the season, which includes a 2-1 conference record. The Panthers have won three out of their last five matches with seven matches left before the OVC tournament.

​”We played at a very high level all weekend. We showed we can play with the best in this conference,” Eastern coach Eric Stark said. “We put ourselves in a great position to be 3-0 after this weekend, but unfortunately, we just couldn’t close the door.”

Eastern struggled out of the gates in doubles against Austin Peay losing two out of the three doubles matches, which essentially decided the match giving the Governors the doubles point.

“We are still not where we need to be in doubles, but we have worked hard on it and playing such tough competition early in the year has helped us get ready for conference,” Stark said.

Governor seniors Dimitar Ristovski and Iago Seffrin got the win over the Panthers No. 1 squad in junior Robert Skolik and freshman Preston Touliatos.

The No. 3 match was an 8-5 victory for Governor sophomore Manuel Montenegro and freshman Oleg Drobysh over Panther junior Ryan Henderson and freshman Trent Reiman.

Singles matches went 3-3 for each squad. Eastern took the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 matches, while Austin Peay won the No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6 matches.

Skolik beat Ristovski in two sets 7-6, 6-4 in the No. 1 match.

“We have had tremendous efforts from everyone in the singles lineup and it starts with the play from Rob [Skolik], who is playing at such a high level, and I still think he isn’t even near what he is capable of yet,” Stark said.

The Panthers swept the doubles field against Murray State despite going unfinished in the No. 3 match winning both the No. 1 and No. 2 matches.

Skolik and Touliatos handled the Racer duo of sophomore David Hess and senior Max McLean winning, 8-2, and Henderson and junior Rui Silva defeated Racer freshman Will True and Srdjan Trosic, 8-5.

The Panthers nearly swept the singles field as well, winning all but the No. 5 match.

Skolik defeated True, 6-2, 7-6, Henderson defeated McLean, 6-2, 6-0, Touliatos defeated Trosic, 6-4, 6-3, Silva defeated senior Aleks Mitric, 6-2, 6-0, and freshman Grant Reiman defeated sophomore Anjan Kashyab, 6-3, 6-1.

“I’m very proud of how hard we fought in singles and were able to put a tough loss behind us and come out and stay focused against Murray State,” Stark said.

The Panthers have two more matches this month at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and a make-up match against non-conference opponent Saint Louis.

“We know going into every conference match, it is going to be a war,” said Stark.

Eastern looks to improve their conference record to 3-1 and their non-conference record to 2-9 this week. The first match at Southern Illinois starts at noon Wednesday at the SIUE Tennis Courts.

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