The Eastern’s men’s tennis team has had more than a week off since their last match. After a week of training, they will be taking on Marquette on Saturday.

“It’s a grind going through practices and matches each week,” head coach Sam Kercheval said. “Having that weekend off is a nice break to rejuvenate and refocus.”

The Panthers (2-6) and the Golden Eagles (5-5) have faced two similar teams this season: Northern Illinois and University of Illinois-Chicago.

The Panthers lost to Northern, 2-5, and to Illinois-Chicago, 1-6. Marquette defeated both Northern and Illinois-Chicago, 6-1. Despite Marquette being a tough opponent, Kercheval said that Marquette could be a very competitive team.

“We know they are another strong team, but we are excited to keep building on the progress we have had,” Kercheval said.

Kercheval said that the key to victory this week is belief and being competitive and it has been for the past three weeks. He also said the team needs to work on being more aggressive in both singles and doubles.

“It will take that belief that we can go in and get the win and then to actually go show it on the court with our competitiveness,” Kercheval said.

Marquette has a 4-0 record at home and just recently defeated Northern on Wednesday.

Senior Daniel Fernandez defeated junior Carlos Manzanas 6-2, 6-4. Freshman Alvaro Verdu won 6-4, 7-5 over sophomore Louis-Philippe Hamel. Junior Nick Dykema beat sophomore Georg Lundkvist in three sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Junior Kristiyan Trukov won 7-6, 7-6 against Austin Russell. Freshman Greg Anderson won 7-5, 6-2, over sophomore Kevin Daun. The only Golden Eagle to come away with a loss was junior Mackenzie Stearns, who lost 6-1, 6-3 to sophomore Tom Hjertonsson.

For doubles, the Golden Eagles swept the Huskies. Fernandez and Verdu went unfinished against Manzanas and Russell. Stearns and Dykema defeated Daun and Lundkvist, 6-3. Anderson and Trukov beat Hjertonsson and Hamel, 6-1.

So far for the Panthers, the singles overall record sits at a combined 17-25, a win percentage of 40. Senior Ryan Henderson is leading the way in the singles record of 5-2 at the No. 2 spot. Behind Henderson are freshman Ognjen Jevtic and senior Robert Skolik with a 3-4 record. Senior Rui Silva and sophomore Grant Reiman have a record of 2-5. Sophomore Jared Woodson is perfect, going 2-2. Senior Jacob Wendell is 0-1 and sophomore Trent Reiman is 0-2.

In doubles, the Panthers have a record of 7-13, only a winning percentage of 35. The duo of Silva and Skolik lead the way with the best record for the team at 3-4. Henderson and Jevtic are 2-4 on the year. The Reiman brothers are 1-2. Grant Reiman and Woodson are 1-2. Grant Reiman and Wendell are 0-1.

After Marquette, the Panthers will head to Chicago to take on DePaul on March 12.

Tyler McCluskey can be reached at 581-2812 or trmccluskey@eiu.edu.