CHARLESTON, Ill. - SIUE women's tennis handed Eastern Illinois its first Ohio Valley Conference loss of the season Saturday, defeating the Panthers 5-2.

"It was great to close out OVC play with a win and hopefully put ourselves in position to head to postseason play with momentum and confidence," said SIUE Head Coach Adam Albertsen.

SIUE finished the OVC regular season 4-1 and are now 15-4 overall. Eastern Illinois dropped to 12-9 overall and 3-1 in the OVC. The Cougars close out the regular season next Friday at William Woods.

The Cougars took two of three doubles matches to secure the doubles point early. Jill Lambrechts and Jordan Schifano defeated Christine Gouws and Addison Brown 6-1 at No, 1 doubles. Margaux Guibal-Britt and Amelia Gorman defeated Jemma Booth and Brittany Steven 6-3 at No. 2 doubles.

Gorman would secure the team victory for the Cougars with her 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Brown at No. 4 singles. SIUE also picked up straight sets wins by Lambrechts (No. 1), Schifano (No. 3) and Jaiden McKee (No. 5).

"EIU has a very strong team and they pushed us in both doubles and singles," said Albertsen, "I am proud of how we answered and competed today. We have one more match before we head to Paducah and start a new season."

The OVC Championships get underway April 21-23 in Paducah, Kentucky.