Sports

Blue Demons travel to Madison

The Wisconsin men's tennis team (1-0) faces off against DePaul (1-2) at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

The Badgers are coming off their first match of the season, in which they defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies 7-0.

Wisconsin took two out of the three doubles matches to capture the doubles point, and then swept all six singles matches with no player losing more than three games in any one set.

DePaul comes into the match riding a two-match losing streak. The Blue Demons lost both of their last two matches by a 7-0 margin to Western Michigan and Northwestern.

But just because the Demons are struggling does not mean the Badgers are taking them lightly.

"We came out hard against Northern [Illinois]," said head coach Greg Van Emburgh. "We want to make sure we come out ready to play again and not underestimate them. They are a team that is coming in looking to sneak up against us."

The first-year head coach believes if the team continues to play like it did against Northern Illinois, it should have a good chance for success against DePaul.

"We need to continue to have that same intensity and focus we had against Northern Illinois," said Van Emburgh. "The guys did a great job last week. They didn't really want to give an inch."

According to Van Emburgh, DePaul is a solid team that will probably be more of a challenge than Northern Illinois. However, the coach feels the team's chances against the Blue Demons are good.

"The guys have worked hard," said Van Emburgh. "If they are ready to play, the wins will take care of themselves."

The Badgers defeated the Blue Demons last season 4-3 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Wisconsin has won 15 out of 16 games in the series, their only loss coming in 2000.