The Tremper boys tennis team makes its third consecutive appearance at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division-1 State Team Tournament today at the University of Wisconsin’s Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.

The Trojans (8-4) face De Pere (8-3) in a 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal match in the eight-team, single-elimination bracket.

In other first-round matches, Homestead (16-3) faces Brookfield Central (22-2), Eau Claire Memorial (8-0) takes on two-time, defending champion Marquette (19-1) and Middleton (14-7) plays Madison East (11-2).

With a victory, Tremper will face the Middleton-Madison East winner in a semifinal 9 a.m. Saturday. The championship is slated for 2 p.m.

Tremper is making its sixth State appearance and fourth in the last five years.

While the Trojans have experience on their side, they enter with a 1-6 record at State. Tremper recorded its lone victory in 1996 with a 4-3 win over Waukesha South in the quarterfinal before falling to Neenah 6-1 in the semifinal.

The Trojans suffered a first-round exit with a 6-1 defeat against Madison West last year and lost by the same score against Neenah in 2007 and Brookfield Central in 2005.

Tremper also lost to Brookfield Central 6-1 in its State debut in 1995.

Tremper, ranked honorable mention in Division-1 in the latest Wisconsin Tennis Coaches Association poll, is led by junior David Carswell (25-7) at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of Tomas Goldsmith and Connor Hildebrandt (23-3).

Carswell advanced to the third round of last week’s WIAA State Individual Tournament, while Goldsmith and Hildebrandt bowed out in the second round.

The Trojans’ lineup also includes Jake Humphreys at No. 2 singles, William Horn at No. 3 singles and Andrew Fields at No. 4 singles along with the No. 2 doubles team of Adam Gagliardi and Jake Riley and the No. 3 doubles team of Zach Cooper and Jake Larsen.

De Pere won the Green Bay Southwest sectional in securing its first-ever State berth.

The 10th-ranked Redbirds are led by sophomore Michael Gillespie (17-7) at No. 1 singles and Spencer Strand and Mathew Zellner (20-4) at No. 1 doubles.