Spring Break
Tennis: Both teams reach tourney
Kevin Murphy / Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: Sports
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Despite dropping both matches Saturday to Murray State at Darling Courts, both the Eastern men's and women's tennis teams have qualified for the OVC Tournament.
The men's squad dropped a close 4-3 match, and the women lost 6-1. But the women got the victory they needed Friday night in Danville with a 5-2 victory against Southeast Missouri.
The Panthers played with five healthy players against SEMO at the Danville Tennis Center because of weather conditions. They took the doubles point and won four singles matches. The Panthers (8-12, 4-5 OVC) only lost at No. 1 singles and No. 6 singles.
They only lost at No. 6 singles loss because the Panthers have five healthy players. Eastern sophomore Abby Allgire is out with an injury, and Eastern freshman Amanda Dibbs is out with a wrist injury.
The Panthers have now reached the tournament two of the past three seasons.
"It's a testament to how much they've improved to be in this position even though we'd like to be a lot higher in the standings," said Eastern head coach John Blackburn.
Eastern freshman Juliana Frey won at No. 3 singles in three sets to pick up the lone victory for the Panthers Saturday.
The Panthers will play the No. 3 seed in the OVC Tournament Friday in Paducah, Ky.
"We're just going to play with the five people we have," said Eastern junior Hayley Homburg. "And I really think that we can do some damage even though we have only five healthy players."
The men's squad (10-11, 3-5), played without senior Jordan Nestrud because of an injury on Senior Day. The men's squad dropped the important doubles point. The Panthers won No. 2 doubles, but lost No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, 9-7 and 9-8.
"It's been up and down," Blackburn said. "We've played well in spots, and not so well in spots."
Eastern senior Vuk Milicevic and freshman Drew Grimaldi were leading in the tiebreaker, but dropped the No. 3 doubles match and the point.
"We had good runs and bad runs, Blackburn said. "You'd like to play at one level at a time."
Milicevic, Eastern junior Jeff Rutherford and Eastern freshman Jamie Firth all picked up singles victories. Milicevic defeated his brother, Murray State sophomore Luka Milicevic, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Firth won in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 at No.4 singles despite an injury timeout in the second set.
"We've been talking about mental and physical runs," Blackburn said. "He had a fast first set. It would have been easy for him to go away mentally and physically, but he didn't. He just played tough."
The men's squad, which tied for sixth place in the league, has reached the conference tournament for three straight seasons.
"It's a positive thing for them," Blackburn said. "They battled all year. That's always one of our biggest goals."
The men's tennis team will play No. 3 Jacksonville State Friday in the OVC Tournament.
Milicevic said it was a good achievement because when they came in, Nestrud and Milicevic finished seventh in the conference and did not make the tournament.
The men's team returns to action Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Southern Illinois Carbondale.
Standings
Men's Tennis
Team / Overall / OVC
*E. Kentucky / 17-8 / 8-0
*Tennessee Tech / 11-7 / 6-2
*Jacksonville State / 18-2 / 6-1
*Murray State / 7-8 / 4-3
*Morehead State 9-6 / 4-4
*E. Illinois / 10-11 / 3-5
Tennessee Martin / 5-11 / 3-5
Austin Peay / 3-14 / 1-7
Tennessee State / 0-12/ 0-8
Women's Tennis
Team / OVC / Overall
*E. Kentucky / 9-0 / 20-5
*Tennessee Martin / 8-1 / 12-6
*Jacksonville State / 6-2 / 12-6
*Tennessee Tech / 6-3 / 7-8
*Murray State / 5-3 / 11-7
*E. Illinois / 4-5 / 8-12
Morehead State / 3-6 / 11-10
Austin Peay / 2-7 / 3-16
SE Missouri / 1-8/ 1-19
Tennessee State / 0-9 / 0-13
*Reached OVC Tournament
Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or at kjmurphy@eiu.edu.
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