Most people around the world had a green St. Patrick's Day, but those watching the Penn State Invitational this weekend were seeing blue and white -- lots of it.

The women's tennis team dominated the Invitational -- there were no players from any other team in any of the finals, partially due to a lack of Pitt players. Pitt brought only two players, Heidi Price and Chris Orie, to the invitational because of injuries and finals. As a result, Coach Jan Bortner replaced Pitt's empty slots with Lady Lions.

Penn State quickly proved too much to handle for Division II Clarion, Division III Elizabethtown and what there was of the Pitt team. In the singles semifinals, 13 of the 18 players were Lady Lions. Only two teams from Clarion prevented an all-Penn State doubles semifinal field of eight.

No. 1 Kelly Erven had to play her doubles partner, No. 2 Claudia Karabedian, for the Flight A Singles Championship, which she won, 6-3, 6-1.

"It was very awkward," Erven said. "It seemed like every match, there was at least one person from Penn State. It's kind of unfortunate that we didn't get the quality of teams that we did last year, but maybe our confidence is a little higher after this weekend."

Partners Denise Robison and Carolyn Pickering dealt with the same situation, as they faced off for the Flight C Championship. Robison didn't seem to mind as she rebounded from dropping the first set to win, 2-6, 7-6, 6-1.

"You just don't think about it," Robison said. "You play her just like your normal opponent."

In the other singles championships, Kerri Kohr beat Jennifer Farrington, 6-4, 6-2, for the Flight B title, and Jamie Peters beat Kathy Grignol for the Flight D Championship, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

In doubles, Erven and Karabedian made quick work of Lisa Thomas and Kohr, 6-0, 6-1, for the Flight A Championship. Stephanie Erb and Jamie Peters likewise defeated Robison and Pickering, 6-1, 6-2, to win Flight B.

Despite the lack of competition, Bortner believes the weekend was a good opportunity to analyze the players.

"I knew that with this field, Penn State players would end up playing with each other," Bortner said. "Some players react differently in a competitive environment, and this way the coach can see how they work, because some people raise their competitive game. We haven't had many head-to-heads in practice.

Bortner was pleased with the performance from his younger players, especially Peters, who he said is playing very aggressively when it matters, and Pickering, who he believes is becoming more confident.