Spring Break
Women's Tennis: Panthers have potential to be road warriors
Team will play first seven matches
Neil Schneider / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Sports
The Eastern women's tennis team will spend a long way from Charleston this season.
The Panthers will be playing their next seven tennis matches on the road.
The Panthers (1-2) will begin their long road trip in DeKalb at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Northern Illinois. From there they play two matches in Indiana (Robert Morris and Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis), two matches in Iowa (South Dakota State and Northern Iowa) and then they finish off the road trip returning to Illinois for matches against Illinois State in Normal and Butler in Indianapolis.
The Panthers have already played three matches away from Charleston this season with two neutral-site matches.
Their lone win is a true-road win at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in Edwardsville.
"We have done some good things on the road this season and I think the way we performed against SIU-Edwardsville, especially in the single matches, will help us build some momentum going into the away matches," said Eastern head coach John Blackburn.
Blackburn said that the women's squad has improved with each match this season and will be looking to build upon its win.
Last season, the Panthers started out 7-2 before their first match at home last season. They finished 9-4 in matches not in Charleston.
"We're going to be focusing on creating more opportunities for points," Blackburn said. "A couple big focuses of ours will be to be thinking two and three shots in advance, putting more spin on the ball at the right times and making sure our shots are being put in the right places."
The Huskies (1-2) will be playing its first home match of the season. They are coming off a 6-1 against Wisconsin Green Bay. Last season, the Panthers defeated Northern Illinois, 4-3.
"We are also going to try and continue to work on both single's and doubles competition, as well as being more assertive and controlling of serves," Blackburn said.
Eastern assistant coach Andres Weisskopf said that along with their focuses in practice, the women's squad has an advantage that a lot of people might not know about.
"One thing I'm impressed with is how much the women's squad works as a team," Weisskopf said. "Tennis is really an individual sport, so to see the girls develop this sense of team spirit, it is something that we can build off of."
Eastern's first home match will be on March 12 at 1 p.m. against Western Illinois at Darling Courts.
"We don't believe that the away games will be a problem," Weisskopf said. "The girls are still working out and doing there conditioning as scheduled, so I don't anticipate fatigue mentally or physically to be a problem."
Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.
The Panthers will be playing their next seven tennis matches on the road.
The Panthers (1-2) will begin their long road trip in DeKalb at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Northern Illinois. From there they play two matches in Indiana (Robert Morris and Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis), two matches in Iowa (South Dakota State and Northern Iowa) and then they finish off the road trip returning to Illinois for matches against Illinois State in Normal and Butler in Indianapolis.
The Panthers have already played three matches away from Charleston this season with two neutral-site matches.
Their lone win is a true-road win at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in Edwardsville.
"We have done some good things on the road this season and I think the way we performed against SIU-Edwardsville, especially in the single matches, will help us build some momentum going into the away matches," said Eastern head coach John Blackburn.
Blackburn said that the women's squad has improved with each match this season and will be looking to build upon its win.
Last season, the Panthers started out 7-2 before their first match at home last season. They finished 9-4 in matches not in Charleston.
"We're going to be focusing on creating more opportunities for points," Blackburn said. "A couple big focuses of ours will be to be thinking two and three shots in advance, putting more spin on the ball at the right times and making sure our shots are being put in the right places."
The Huskies (1-2) will be playing its first home match of the season. They are coming off a 6-1 against Wisconsin Green Bay. Last season, the Panthers defeated Northern Illinois, 4-3.
"We are also going to try and continue to work on both single's and doubles competition, as well as being more assertive and controlling of serves," Blackburn said.
Eastern assistant coach Andres Weisskopf said that along with their focuses in practice, the women's squad has an advantage that a lot of people might not know about.
"One thing I'm impressed with is how much the women's squad works as a team," Weisskopf said. "Tennis is really an individual sport, so to see the girls develop this sense of team spirit, it is something that we can build off of."
Eastern's first home match will be on March 12 at 1 p.m. against Western Illinois at Darling Courts.
"We don't believe that the away games will be a problem," Weisskopf said. "The girls are still working out and doing there conditioning as scheduled, so I don't anticipate fatigue mentally or physically to be a problem."
Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.
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