The Northwestern men’s tennis team (5-2, 1-1 Big Ten) will take on crosstown rival DePaul (2-9) tonight at Combe Tennis Center with the sting of last weekend’s defeat to Indiana still fresh.

“There are two things you can do when you have a loss like that: You can either get down on yourself about it, or you can redeem yourself,” senior Josh Axler said. “DePaul should be a little worried right now.”

DePaul will come to Evanston with a small team of only six members in hopes of ending their three-game losing streak.

Blue Demons coach Mark Ardizzone feels the strength of his team’s schedule will help them in today’s match.

“Our team is prepared,” Ardizzone said. “We’ve played a lot of quality teams so far and that will help us against Northwestern.”

DePaul has faced four Big Ten opponents so far this year and has yet to garner a win. Two of their nine losses came at the hands of Denver and Wisconsin, teams the Cats have breezed by.

“The DePaul match will be fun,” NU sophomore Chuck Perrin said. “It’s on a Thursday night, they’re our crosstown rivals — it’ll be a good match going in to this weekend.”

NU players said they’re relieved to face DePaul before taking on Notre Dame, a team the Cats have not beaten since 1998.

“I’m glad we have a match Thursday that we’re heavily favored to win,” NU coach Paul Torricelli said. “It will really help us going in to the weekend. Notre Dame’s always a team to beat.”

Sophomore Tommy Hanus will not play today due to NCAA limits on number of dates a player may play.