Looking to get some court time in before the Feb. 22 Princeton Invitational, the women's tennis team overcame a sluggish start en route to a convincing 8-1 victory over Maryland on Friday at the Penn State Tennis Club.

"It was a good match to get under our belts," Coach Sue Whiteside said. "We might have gotten off to a little bit of a slow start, but that's to be expected (with) the first match of the season."

As a result of Ann Slocomb's lower back injury, the Lady Lions were forced to adjust to a different lineup against Maryland, beginning at No. 1 doubles. Junior Kerri Kohr replaced the injured Slocomb, teaming with Kelly Erven to face Maryland's No. 1 team of Michelle Daigle and Alycia Katrinak.

In the first set, Erven and Kohr attacked the net relentlessly, winning the first two games at love. However, with Kohr serving in the third game, Daigle and Katrinak regained their composure and broke service with an overhead smash by Daigle. But Erven and Kohr's play at the net was simply too much for Maryland, as the Lady Lions rolled to a 6-2 victory in the first set.

The second set began as a horrifying sequel to the first for Daigle and Katrinak. Kohr and Erven continued to hound the net with good volleys and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. With Kohr serving at match point, however, things began to fall apart for the Lady Lions. Maryland broke service and proceeded to win the next three games, deadlocking the set at 5-5. During Maryland's stretch, Daigle and Katrinak kept the Lady Lions from attacking the net by dropping back to the baseline.

"When they went into the two-back position, that took us out of our game," Erven said. "It's hard to play when two people are in back instead of everyone being at the net."

In the 11th game, Erven and Kohr settled down and won the final two games of the match to post a 6-2, 7-5 win.

"We were up and usually when you get up, you sort of relax a little too much," Kohr said.

At No. 2 doubles, Cathy Kissell and Jen Farrington fell to Maryland's Missy Smith and Lainie Stern 6-2, 7-5, Penn State's lone loss of the match. The freshman tandem of Kristin Kovalik and Tammy Okins-Nguyen blitzed through Jacklyn Block and Illi Dominitz of Maryland 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3.

"They really pretty much dominated their opponents," Whiteside said. "They shifted gears after about the first three games . . . I expected them to play well."

In singles competition, the Lady Lions' depth proved to be too much for the Lady Terrapins, as Penn State was victorious in all six matches.

At No. 1, Erven used an arsenal of shots to break a 2-2 tie, taking the next four games and the first set from Stern. Erven continued to frustrate her opponent in the second set, moving Stern around the court with solid groundstrokes. But with Erven leading 2-1, Stern stormed back, winning the next two games to take a 3-2 lead. But Erven came back and took a 6-5 lead on a forehand winner. At match point, Erven kept Stern moving around the court, setting her up for the backhand winner and taking the match 6-2, 7-5.

"I didn't mix it up enough," Stern said."I was hitting with her too much."

At No. 2, Okins-Nguyen overcame Smith's attacking play at the net with accurate passing shots and defeated her opponent 7-5, 6-2.

At Nos. 3-6, Farrington defeated Daigle 7-5, 1-6, 6-3; Kohr outlasted Katrinak 5-7, 7-5, 6-3; Kissell breezed past Dominitz 6-1, 6-0; and Kovalik pummeled Block, 6-3, 6-1.

Whiteside said the match provided her team with a good victory prior to the Princeton Ivitational Feb. 22-24.

"I'm glad we got (the match) in before we go to Princeton," she said. "We have to pick it up a little bit."