Eastern’s women’s tennis coach Lois Alexis has taken a personal leave of absence from coaching the program to be able to finalize a new work visa, Eastern associate athletic director Rich Moser confirmed Wednesday.

He said Eastern Athletics is hopeful that it will be a short term process and Alexis will be back with the program in the near future.

Alexis was hired as the team’s coach on Nov. 1, after the team went the whole fall season without a true coach.

Alexis’ leave of absence comes at a weird time for the team, as the team’s first matches are this weekend; Saturday at Illinois State and Sunday at the Illinois.

The men’s coach, Samuel Kercheval, helped the women’s team in the fall season and will help the team again this spring season.

Along with Kerchival, former Charleston High School coach Kevin Hussey will serve as an assistant until coach Alexis returns.

Junior Abby Carpenter said the team is disappointed that Alexis will not be able to attend the team’s first few matches, but that Alexis will be a part of how the team prepares and trains for the matches, even though she will not physically be there.

Carpenter said the team is looking forward to Alexis returning. In the meantime, Carpenter said Kercheval will help the team out greatly with traveling and practice plans, which she said the team is very fortunate for.

Dillan Schorfheide can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]