Freshmen twins Grant and Trent Reiman share clothes, eat together and play tennis together for Eastern’s men’s tennis squad.

Trent is one inch taller and seven minutes older than Grant, but both played tennis at Morton High School where they said their best tennis memory was finishing in fifth place in the IHSA Illinois State their senior year in doubles.

“It was the highest finish in the history of any team in our high school and it allowed us to make First-Team All State,” Grant said.

They said their family has always been a tennis family and the twins have been fans of the game ever since they were traveling to watch their older brother’s tennis tournaments.

“We decided to try it ourselves and developed a love for the game right away,” Grant said.

The twins were very successful at Morton High School. Grant was a four-year letter-winner who finished with a 129-23 total record, which included a 33-10 singles record and 96-13 doubles record.

Trent went 133-19 overall, which included a 33-5 singles record and 100-14 in doubles matches and was also a multi-year letterman.

“We are basically the same person,” Trent said.

The twins are known as the hard workers on the squad right now. Teammate and fellow freshman Preston Touliatos said the twins are great teammates with consistently great energy.

Eastern has struggled so far this season with a current seven-game losing streak to start the season.

The twins have shown some good signs even though the stat sheet doesn’t show it. The twins have a 0-5 record in doubles and a combined record of 1-6 in singles matches.

Four of the five doubles matches were close in terms of scores. The Reimans only shut out came against a doubles team from Michigan State.

Eastern coach Eric Stark had a lot of positives to say about Grant after the first match of the year against Purdue University.

“Grant Reiman was very professional today,” Stark said. “Which is great to see in a freshman playing his first collegiate match. That is a tough thing to do going into a match being expected to win and win decisively and he did just that.”

The sign of early professionalism may be a sign from the leadership the older players have shown him.

Both twins said the whole team plays a role in which they look up to the different aspects and traits that players on the team have.

“They’re all great guys and very encouraging and I look up to all of them. At the end of the day, I think having a team like ours is more important than a win or a loss,” Grant said.

The twins and the rest of the squad look to break their current losing streak Saturday when they take on Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

  Cody Delmendo can be reached at 581-2812 or at cddelmendo@eiu.edu.