Saturday, the Eastern men’s tennis team will be once again on the road as it travels to Chicago to take on the DePaul Blue Demons.

DePaul, 9-7 overall and 1-1 in Conference USA, is coming off a weekend where it split two matches between Memphis and St. Louis. DePaul fell to perennial power Memphis 4-0, but bounced back and defeated St. Louis by the same score. DePaul, which recently cracked the College Tennis Online national rankings in the No. 75 spot, is always a competitive squad.

“The No. 1 through eight singles players for them are always strong,” Eastern head coach Brian Holzgrafe said.

Eastern, 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the OVC, will look to sophomore Chuck LeVaque this weekend, as it has all year.

“(LeVaque’s) intensity has gone two-fold since last season. He has stepped up from being a No. 3 singles player to the No. 1 singles player this year,” Holzgrafe said.

The difference with LeVaque is that he has been able to make adjustments, says Holzgrafe.

“He is making a huge jump this year from No. 3 to No. 1, and normally many players cannot make this adjustment until at least their senior year, let alone when they are sophomores,” said Holzgrafe.

Beside LeVaque, freshman Kevin Arndt has stepped up his game as well.

“(Arndt) has improved dramatically as the season has gone along. He has gone from a walk-on who was struggling early on to someone who has emerged as a force,” Holzgrafe said.

DePaul boasts four seniors, mainly Mark Henderson, their No. 1 singles player who has a 10-5 overall record this year. The DePaul squad has a bit of international flavor, with five of their nine members coming from outside the United States. This pales in comparison to the number of international players for Eastern, as it boasts one in LeVaque, a native of Canada.

DePaul plays in a very competitive league, which has four other teams in the top 75.

“Basically, you’re looking at two teams in different situations, with DePaul being in an extremely difficult conference,” said Holzgrafe.

Preparation for this weekend’s opponent has not altered the way the players are thinking.

“Our mind-frame is great heading into this weekend,” said Holzgrafe. “We truly believe that we can go into DePaul and win.”

While Eastern has been on the road all season and will not be at home until March 20, DePaul has been away from its home courts as well. The Blue Demons have not had a home match since the beginning of February. Holzgrafe feels that being on the road has actually helped the team as a whole.

“It’s actually something we needed. We have turned into a family because of all the travel that we have had,” said Holzgrafe.