Winning is becoming second nature to the NIU men’s tennis team. So is winning big.

The Huskies launched into the three-match weekend on Gullickson Tennis Courts with Thursday’s 8-0 downing of DePaul. The netters proceeded to top Marquette 8-1 Friday, and beat the College of St. Francis 9-0 and Drake 6-0 Saturday.

“People can take it for granted that we’re winning big, but in reality, our individual matches have been pretty tough,” said NIU coach Carl Neufeld. “It was a really good weekend not only from a victory standpoint, but in terms of experience as well.”

Neufeld was able to go to his bench against St. Francis and Drake. The relief players’ victories doubled as experience for their future years.

“We played without three of our four top players against a Division I (Drake) team and played very well,” Neufeld said. “That’s a good sign for our freshmen for next year.”

But Neufeld didn’t take any credit away from his upperclassmen on the squad. Seniors Dan Bowers and Kelly Holt stepped up a couple of notches from their regular play to fill the top two singles’ jobs, respectively.

“I was really pleased to see our two seniors, Dan and Kelly, play so well in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles slot,” Neufeld said. “They moved up and set the example for everyone else.”

The victory over Drake marked NIU’s 10th consecutive win, and lifted the Huskies to a 25-8 ledger.

Neufeld said Drake’s coach agreed to cancel the doubles matches because of poor weather conditions.