After starting on a high note with a win over Temple, the women's tennis team dropped two weekend matches to ranked teams.

The Lady Lions are now 15-4 after their 6-3 win over the Owls and their losses to William & Mary, ranked 18th in the nation, and the University of Richmond, No. 9 in the Division I-East Region.

The Lady Lions, ranked No. 6 in Division I-East Region, started last Thursday at their last home meet when they competed against Temple.

Banners, balloons and cake were what Temple walked into when it arrived, four hours late, at the Indoor Tennis Club.

The Lady Lions were ready for competition at the scheduled time of 2:30, with a celebration of the last home meet for seniors Cathy Kissell and Kelly Erven, and the last Atlantic-10 home meet. The Lady Lions will play a Big Ten schedule next year.

Temple's van broke down and the team did not arrive until 6:30.

"It's really hard as a competitor," Coach Sue Whiteside said. "If you prepare yourself to start at a certain time it's tough."

The competition began with doubles matches. Penn State won two of these matches but its No. 1 doubles team lost, 6-3, 6-4.

Singles competition then began with No. 1 player Erven struggling in a three-set match with Cindy Barber of Temple. Erven eventually won the match, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.

"We weren't mentally ready," Ann Slocomb said.

"It started out being a lot closer and I was a little bit more nervous," Whiteside said. "It was a lot tougher than the scores indicated."

"They were a good test," Slocomb said. "It was good to know what to expect for A-10s."

Penn State went on to win the competition, 7-2.

One factor in Penn State's win was the home crowd, Whiteside said. The crowd stayed at the competition until it ended at 11 p.m.

The spirit of the players was another factor.

"Everyone wanted to win so that we could go out on a positive note," Whiteside said.

On Saturday, the team ventured to Virginia to meet William & Mary and were swept, 9-0.

William & Mary's lineup is composed of several top players, including national junior amateur champion, Tanya Sterick. In addition, the No. 3 player is the top player in South Africa.

"We didn't think we were going to win," Slocomb said. "All the way down the line they're strong."

"I wanted us to play well against them," Whiteside said.

However, the team did not play up to Whiteside's expectations. She said it was as if the team was playing in a fog and as a result, the sharpness was not there.

"We all could have fought a little bit harder," Slocomb said. "We could have given our best shot a little better."

Slocomb attributed part of the team's difficulty to not being able to overlook William & Mary's national ranking.

On Sunday, the team competed against the University of Richmond and lost again, 6-3.

"We struggled the entire time," Whiteside said. "Richmond is a solid team."

Whiteside said Richmond is at the same quality level as James Madison, which is ranked seventh in the Division I East Region.

The loss to Richmond was partially due to the William & Mary loss, Slocomb said.

Slocomb explained that the loss to William & Mary was the first time the Lady Lions lost 9-0. She said this stayed on everyone's mind when they met Richmond.

"We don't want to get into a thing where we start doubting our ability," Whiteside said. "We are a good team. We just need to regroup and refocus . . . and not doubt our ability and competitiveness."

Whiteside said the team needs to get back its winning attitude to get back on track.

"We cannot be dwelling on what has happened in the past," Whiteside said.