PARK FOREST, Ill. - The men's tennis team traveled on Saturday afternoon to compete at the Park Forest Tennis Club. The Panthers were back to conference play as they defeated Purdue Northwest 5-2.
 
The Panthers earned the doubles point over the Pride. For three doubles, Daniil Khitrou and Subash Paramasivam wasted zero time as they won the first four games to claim the 6-1 victory over Levent Evyapan and Luca Kirchhof. Carlos Henriquez and Simone Pacciolla teamed up at two doubles as they earned a tense 6-4 win over Paul Hawes and Luis Alvear. Jan Stolin and Joel Mast competed at one doubles, and even though they earned a quick service break they were unable to overcome Samuel Dickson and Joao Martins (7-5).
 
The Panthers started hot out the gate in singles claiming two victories within the first hour of singles play. Paramasivam at one singles, had trouble as his opponent refused to miss and was defeated 6-1, 6-1 by Dickson. Mast played three singles, as he routed the challenger Alvear 6-0, 6-1. After that win, the Indiana native is now 4-1 in GLIAC competition and improved to 17-10 on the season. For two singles, Stolin did not miss a beat as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Kirchhoff. At four singles it was Khitrou, who was involved in a heated battle that was filled with tension. Nonetheless the Belorussian got the job done in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), clinching the victory for the Panthers that gave the men's squad their third conference win of the season.