Eastern’s men’s tennis team completed its first meet of the fall season over the weekend.

The River Forest Fall invitational is a three-day event that spanned from Friday to Sunday. Play was completed Sunday afternoon.

The event was comprised of eight teams including Eastern. The other teams that took part in the invite were Detroit, UIC, Marquette, Northern, SLU, Valparaiso, and Youngstown State.

The invitational is played in tournament format. When athletes earn a victory, they move on in what is called the winner’s bracket to face another winner of each round.

When athletes are defeated, they move to the bracket consisting of other athletes who were defeated in their matches. It is a bit of a consolation prize.

Two Panthers advanced in the winner’s bracket in singles and one duo made a winning advancement over the weekend.

Although only two Panthers advanced in the singles play winner’s bracket, three registered wins in the tournament.

Both of the Panthers’ new acquisitions played solid tennis over the weekend, as well as one of their seniors.

Freshman Logan Charbonneau and senior Trent Reiman advanced in the winner’s bracket, winning their first-round match.

Charbonneau defeated Marquette senior Andre Romanella in Friday’s opening round (6-2, 6-4). The win was the first of Charbonneau’s young career as a Panther.

Reiman defeated Marquette’s Scott Christian in a tie break (7-5, 2-6, [7]).

Reiman also found success in doubles. The senior partnered up with sophomore Freddie O’Brien to defeat UIC junior Alvaro De La Fuente and sophomore William Wale 7-5.

The other Panther to notch a win in River Forest was freshman Kaisei Kuroki.

After being defeated in his opening round match against Valparaiso sophomore Brandon Ancona, Kuroki won the first of his consolation matches.

Kuroki defeated UIC’s Niko Wasillevicz in a tie break (5-7, 6-2, [4]). The win was the first of Kuroki’s career as a Panther.

“I thought Kaisei and Logan had good showings in their collegiate debut. They both stayed composed and played some good singles over the course of the weekend,” coach Sam Kercheval said.

Although the Panthers did not have much team success at the event, Kercheval made clear that he saw some positive things from his team in River Forest.

“I think the guys see that we can compete with teams better than maybe the past few years but we are at the point where it’s not just about competing better,” Kercheval said. “We need to get over the hump and win but we have the potential.”

The next event on the Panthers fall schedule is the EIU alumni match Sept. 30 at the Darling Courts.

Parker Valentine can be reached at 581-2812 or pivalentine@eiu.edu