A tennis team that is in transition this year, with a younger rotation of players and new members of the coaching staff, is hoping to make the most of a laid back fall season.

For the new coaching staff, this season has been a time to initiate former player C.J. Weber as the graduate assistant, and former players Becky Brunner and Brandon Blankenbaker will also be helping this year in more of a voluntary basis.

All three former players were seniors last year when they played for Head Coach Brian Holzgrafe; neither the players nor the coach have gotten used to the new arrangement.

“To think of C.J. as Coach Weber still doesn’t seem right,” Holzgrafe said with a smile. “But he is a very knowledgeable player, and that is what we want to accomplish when we put players through this program.”

Holzgrafe does not believe in coddling his players but instead hopes that they can figure out the nuances of the game from his leadership and, moreso, from just playing the game.

“I want these players to learn as much as they can right now, then they can come back and coach and show me up with all that they’ve learned,” Holzgrafe said. “These players also get added incentive that way, because when everything starts to fall into place they get even more confidence.”

The process the team goes through to learn throughout the season is sparked during the fall season, where the team plays far less than they usually do.

Instead of having a constant weekly schedule, the Panthers play exhibition matches here and there along with a few organized meets on their home courts.

“What we ask for, more than anything, is 100 percent of effort,” Weber said. “These players have the talent, its just a matter of improving and need to put in the effort to improve.

“Because the fall season is less completive and there are fewer matches the focus isn’t on the match the next day, its just on doing what you can.”

Being a former player himself, Weber can relate to the players moreso than others especially considering that many of the players played with him last year.

“It has been more of a transition when I have to deal with the men’s team because sometimes they still think of me as a teammate,” Weber said. “I still would like to think that because I played with them I earned most of their respect, and that will transfer over to coaching as well.”

Both Holzgrafe and Weber, along with the rest of the coaches, are preparing the team for some competition even if they want to see improvement more than victories at this point in time.

Later this week, the Panthers will take on St. Louis, traveling to play the Billikens in an exhibition match before Eastern hosts a meet.

After the exhibition match against the Billikens, the Panthers will compete in their own tournament the Rex Darling EIU Invitational.

The other teams competing include Xavier, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and Indiana Univeristy-Purdue University at Fort Wayne.

“These are all solid teams but I think the nice surprise at the tournament will be IUPUI,” Holzgrafe said. “They have built a solid team over there, and will shock some people this year. I hope its not us.”

The invitational will be over Family Weekend, when Panthers play host on Friday and Saturday to the three other teams.