CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Tennessee State men's tennis team secured its first Ohio Valley Conference victory since April 1, 2017.
 
The Tigers defeated Eastern Illinois, 4-3, in a nail-biter on Friday afternoon. The thriller began in the doubles portion of the event as the Panthers squeaked out the point.
 
On court three, Maksims Kazijevs and Pierre Copin led the way for TSU with a 6-4 win against Tyler Carlin and Leighton Brandon. However, EIU rallied with a 6-4 victory on court one and a 7-5 win on court two.
 
In the singles competition, the Tigers recorded straight-set victories on three of six courts. Daniel Perez-Caraballo swept Christos Kyrillou, 6-0, 6-2, on court two. Leandros Misdrachis topped Brandon, 6-4, 6-4, on court one to put the Tigers in front.
 
Diego Britt-Alvarez carried the momentum with a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Thomas Wallace on court six. Eastern Illinois responded with a straight-set win on court three and followed up with a three-set win on court five.
 
The matchup came down to the final pairing on court four between TSU's Nil Moinet and EIU's Charles Courteau. Courteau took the first set, 6-4, while Moinet remained poised with a dominating performance in the second set, 6-1. In the third and final set, Courteau raced out to a 5-3 lead before Moinet clutched four consecutive games to take home the 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.
 
Moinet's rally carried Tennessee State to their first win in conference play since April 1, 2017 against Eastern Illinois. Additionally, the Tigers have won the most games since the 2018-19 season. In four matches this season, TSU's logged at least three straight-set victories in the same match.