JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.— The Eagles will be back in action Friday afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. first serve against Southern Wesleyan at the Buddy Catlett Tennis Complex with hopes of playing in the first of what would have been three scheduled matches this week that have been postponed due to rain.  

In their latest action, the Eagles (1-3, 0-1) defeated the Southern Wesleyan convincingly, 7-2, to pick up its first win of the season. Their three prior losses to begin the season came from Tennessee Wesleyan (2/18), the University of the Cumberlands (2/26) and South Atlantic Conference foe Newberry (2/21).

Friday's contestant Southern Indiana (2-2) saw the Screaming Eagles begin the season with two-straight wins over Indiana University Southeast (2/5) and Austin Peay State (2/13) before stumbling to two-consecutive losses to Ferris State (2/27) and Grand Valley State (2/28) coming into the weekend's action.

Southern Indiana was picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference prior to the start of the 2016 season. The Screaming Eagles concluded the 2015 campaign with a 15-7 record a season ago that ended with a 5-2 loss to Ferris State in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament.  

During the impressive season a year ago, Southern Indiana had six players displayed winning records in singles play, including current senior Jack Joyce who went 23-4. Junior Aaron Barris put forth a 16-8 record and Roman Laga tallied a 14-4 record. Joyce and Barris also teamed up for a 17-5 doubles record on the season.

The Screaming Eagles are coached by Chris Crawford and assisted by Ryan McDaniel and Ben Boesing, and welcome back two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and three freshman.

The Eagles have been paced by Jesus Barcete (Spain) and Stefano Daza (Venezuela) in singles as the two have managed a 3-1 record thus far into the season.  

"We are excited to play out of conference against SIU," Love said. "It will be a good test for us as we are working on some new doubles pairings. It is a good opportunity to improve in singles play as well."

 -CN-