With the women’s tennis team not having any matches last week, freshman Claire Martin used the weekend to go home and visit her family.

She said it was a great opportunity to do so and she also caught up on some sleep and homework too.

“We’ve been playing a lot and I love playing the matches, but it was good to have a bit more spare time,” Martin said.

Last week was the first time the Panthers (4-8) had a weekend off from matches this season, coming off a split weekend when Eastern defeated Chicago State 5-2 on Feb. 16 and lost to Northern Illinois 4-3 on Feb. 17.

Martin said she thinks the team needed a weekend off, but the team was definitely ready to get back into the routine when practice came along this week.

“We’re so used to playing almost every day during season that we feel like we’ll lose something if we don’t play,” she said.

Although the off-weekend was nice to have, Martin said she thinks the Panthers will be ready to compete this weekend on Friday and Sunday.

Interim Director of Tennis Samuel Kercheval said the weekend was welcomed and good for the team to get some extra recovery, since the season is tough, long and grueling.

But he said the team has gotten right back into the swing of things and has gotten back to its good form quickly. Even the weather has helped the team out.

“Coming back though, we had our first two outdoor practices so the break, combined with the good weather, has had everyone back into it right away,” Kercheval said.

Getting back into its schedule, the Panthers will be greeted by a three-match weekend.

On Friday, Eastern has a doubleheader in Champaign against IUPUI (3-8) at 11 a.m. and against the University of Illinois-—Springfield (6-2) at 3 p.m.

To close out the weekend, Eastern faces DePaul (4-5) on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Like Eastern, IUPUI defeated Chicago State, 6-1 and has lost to the University of Indianapolis. Eastern lost to Indianapolis 4-3 and IUPUI lost 8-1.

Last year, Eastern shut out IUPUI 7-0.

The only common opponent Eastern shares with University of Illinois—Springfield this season, so far, is Saint Louis, whom the Panthers defeated 5-2 on Feb. 4. University of Illinois—Springfield lost to Saint Louis by the same score Eastern won with.

DePaul also defeated Saint Louis earlier this season 5-2 and the only other common opponent the Blue Demons have with Eastern is Northern Illinois, who DePaul shut out 7-0.

This weekend is the last weekend of matches before Eastern starts its conference play, which opens on Friday, March 16 against Jacksonville State at the Darling Tennis Courts.

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