The Eastern men’s tennis team will have two matches this weekend.

On Friday, they will take on Western Illinois in Champaign at 12:30 p.m. and on Sunday they will face Saint Francis.

The Panthers are coming off a 5-2 loss to Northern Illinois University last weekend.

Despite the loss, the Panthers feel like they have made progress. Seniors Robert Skolik and Ryan Henderson both won their matches in straight sets with Skolik defeating NIU’s Carlos Manzanas 6-0, 6-4, while Henderson beat Tom Hjertsson 6-3, 6-0.

“It’s senior season so it was nice to get the first win,” Skolik said.

Keeping focused mentally is the key to getting the win.

“We will look to all our players, but especially the seniors, to keep focused on the next match,” said coach Sam Kercheval.

Despite three straight losses, the Panthers look at the improvements that have been made from the beginning of the year.

“I’ve certainly seen a change the first few weeks in our decision making. ‘’ Kercheval said. ‘’The guys are doing better at playing the right ball from certain positions on the court. Our consistency has improved a lot in a few short weeks from competing.”

This will be the fourth match for the Panthers, so it is still early in the season.

“We’ve made a lot of improvements from when we came in the fall, but we still haven’t played enough matches to really see how we can apply what we’ve learned.’’ Skolik said. ‘’So I think we’re still waiting on some success in the matches and I think we’ll feel pretty comfortable after that.”

The Panthers were swept in doubles play, but continue to work together as unit in practice and hold to their strategy.

“Chemistry is a big part of doubles but I also work with all the guys to make sure we are playing with the same strategy,” said Kercheval.

As for the Leathernecks, this will be their first match of the season. Their last match against Wright State was cancelled. They did, however, take part in the Valparaiso Invitational during the fall.

Freshman Ben Yeacker and senior Zane Schmudlach won their first matches. Freshman Nolan Jones lost his two matches 6-0, 6-2 to Purdue and then 6-4,6-4 to Toledo. Sophomore Surya Sawhney lost to Youngstown state and to Toledo. Senior Ross Smith lost in his first two rounds and then won in the final day of competition. The Leathernecks were swept in doubles in all three rounds.

The Panthers will have a day to keep in rhythm and prepare their strategy before playing Saint Francis on Sunday.

“It’s about getting the body loose, making sure you are able to recover both physically and mentally and staying focused for the quick turnaround,” Kercheval said.

Saint Francis will be facing Davenport University the day before facing the Panthers. That will be their fist match of the season. The Panthers are 3-0 against the Fighting Saints all time. That match will be in Joliet at 1 p.m.

Tyler McClusky can be reached trmcclusky@eiu.edu