The Butler men’s tennis team continued to struggle with a 5-2 loss at Eastern Kentucky last Saturday.

The Bulldogs (0-7) received one of their two victories from freshman Billy Weldon, who defeated senior Emilio Piriz 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

“It is a definite confidence boost to get my second singles win of the year,” Weldon said. “I am just focused on contributing as much as I can to each match, so getting a win is always a positive.”

Freshman Sam O’Neill recorded Butler’s other win with a comeback performance at No. 6 singles.

After dropping the opening set 2-6 to sophomore Joao Maio, O’Neill took the second set 7-6 and won the tiebreaker 10-5.

“I was really happy with the way I finished the match,” O’Neill said. “I continued to play my patterns and hit my shots the way I had been in training, and when I got behind, I really increased my energy level to where it should have been from the start.”

Despite the pair of wins for the Bulldogs, Eastern Kentucky took the remainder of the singles matches and all three doubles matches.

“We have had a very tough schedule thus far, and I think that we just need to keep our intensity and work up for each match, and things will come together here soon,” Weldon said. “We are a young team and just have to keep fighting in every match we have.”

Butler will continue its season at Western Michigan at 3 p.m. Friday.