By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech tennis team will make the trip up north for its final road match of the regular season as the Golden Eagles will flock to Eastern Illinois for a Saturday morning meeting with the Panthers. First serve from Charleston High School in Charleston, Ill. is set for 10 a.m. CT.
A look at Tennessee Tech
Tech's tangle with the Panthers will mark the club's lone Horizon League road affair of the year. The Golden Eagles (1-11, 0-2 HL) have dropped home conference contests to Tennessee State on Mar. 29 and Southern Indiana on Apr. 5, and will close out the regular season with an Apr. 19 battle against Belmont in Cookeville.
Tech's defeat to USI did see the purple and gold claim a trio of singles matchups. Alex Alverez in the No. 1 spot, Darek Kuczynski in the No. 5 position and Ricard Garavi Yepez in the No. 6 gathering all secured wins in the tilt.
Kuczynski is the Golden Eagle leader in solo nods behind four triumphs, while Alvarez and Murilo Burckhardt have teamed up to from Tech's top doubles tandem thanks to a 4-4 record.
A look at Eastern Illinois
EIU's clash with the purple and gold will mark the club's first Horizon League match since a 7-0 defeat at Belmont on Mar. 29. The club's last four contests have been against teams ranked in the nation's Top 50 behind losses at Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt and twice to Kentucky.
In addition to the defeat at Belmont, the Panthers (6-22, 0-3 HL) have also been tripped up by Tennessee State on Mar. 22 and Southern Indiana on Mar. 26 to account for the squad's three league matches.
Alex Aldaz owns the most singles wins on the team with eight solo nods, doing all of his work within the top three slots in the lineup highlighted by a 4-2 mark out of the No. 3 position. Tyler Carlin and Zach White possess EIU's best doubles record behind an 8-1 tandem ledger.
Inside the series
The Golden Eagles have controlled the all-time series to the tune of a 26-1 record against Eastern Illinois, which includes a 4-0 triumph in Cookeville on April 13, 2024 in the last get-together between the two schools.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
