The Eastern men’s tennis team opened its spring season last weekend splitting a pair of road matches against Illinois State and Saint Louis.

The men dropped their opener against Illinois State but rebounded to defeat Saint Louis less than 48 hours later.

The Panthers started off sharp as Brandon Blankenbaker and C.J. Weber defeated the Illinois State No. 1 doubles team 8-3. However, the Panthers weren’t able to pick up the team point by winning the remaining doubles matches as ISU’s duo of Alban Renard and Chris Cozad defeated Charles LeVaque and Colin Priestner. In the deciding match Ben Cappuccitti and Tom Link bested Eastern’s Ryan Blankenbaker and Brandon Lenfert 8-2 to take the doubles point.

Every Panther but Weber struggled in the singles matches as Eastern lost five of the six contests. In the No. 1 singles match, Weber defeated Cappuccitti 6-2,6-3, but no other Panther followed the seniors lead as all lost in straight sets.

Despite the loss, Panthers head coach Brian Holzgrafe said the opening meet wasn’t all about wins and losses, especially when facing a solid team like Illinois State.

“As a coach, early on I’m looking for some intensity to set the tone for the season,” Holzgrafe said. “Illinois State was definitely one of the tougher teams on the schedule, but (the Eastern) boys played very hard.”

The men showed the intensity Holzgrafe was looking for in their next meet against Saint Louis. Eastern opened up winning the first three singles matches highlighted by Weber’s three set victory over Ikaikia Jobe 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

“C.J. Weber is just incredible,” Holzgrafe said. “He’s 2-0 and has beaten each team’s top player including Jobe from Saint Louis who is a national ranked player.”

Blankenbaker and LeVaque followed Weber’s lead as each picked up three set winners over Thomas Kwong and Lance Vodicka, respectively.

The Panthers were able to edge the Billikens 4-3 in overall points as Eastern won two of the three doubles matches to obtain the doubles point and the victory.

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The win over Saint Louis meant a lot to Holzgrafe who was an assistant coach at Saint Louis for two years before joining the Eastern staff in 2001.

“When I first came to Eastern, Saint Louis was a program that was ahead of us but to beat a team I used to coach and against many of the kids I recruited was a great experience,” Holzgrafe said. “It took a great team effort to win.”

The women, who finished last season 13-7, and 5-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference, were shut out 7-0 against the Redbirds in their only meet of the weekend.

Illinois State began the day by winning all three of their doubles matches and in the singles competition won all six flights to walk away with the impressive victory.

The Panther women will next be in action this Saturday as the team travels to Columbia, Mo., for an afternoon tilt with the Missouri Tigers. Holzgrafe will be looking for a better showing against Mizzou.

“The women are struggling they need to come together,” Holzgrafe said. “Right now they pale in comparison to the way the men are playing.”