It was not exactly a stellar start for the women's tennis team's spring campaign. It won two individual matches Sunday and Monday but, unfortunately, it lost 16 of them.

Penn State (0-2) lost, 8-1, to two Big Ten foes, Wisconsin and Northwestern. The Lady Lions are playing their first season in the Big Ten.

Surprisingly enough, Coach Sue Whiteside remains upbeat about the Lady Lions' prospects for the remainder of the season.

"It's just something we'll have to get used to," she said, referring to the highly competitive Big Ten schedule.

Northwestern Assistant Coach Chris Kartes said that although Penn State played hard, it still needs experience to win in the Big Ten.

"Penn State fought hard. They came out really strong," Kartes said. "They seemed like they lacked experience. I think we kind of overwhelmed them at the end of the matches because of our experience in playing the tough Big Ten schools."

The Lady Lions' most successful player during the Midwestern swing was freshman Sara Bartlett, who pulled out two wins as the No. 6 singles player. Bartlett knocked off Wisconsin's Tina Grubisic 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 on Sunday. On Monday, Northwestern's Amy Heath became Bartlett's second victim of the season, falling 7-6, 7-5.

But Bartlett was far from being the team's only bright spot. Despite the lopsided team scores, Whiteside was still encouraged.

"We need to gain some experience," she said at the start of the season. And the experience that the team gained in its first two Big Ten matches should prove to be extremely beneficial in preparing the Lady Lions for the remainder of its Big Ten schedule.

Although the tough start may help later in the season, Bartlett would not want a similar opening stretch any time in the near future.

"I'm not sure it was a good idea," she said about the early-season schedule. "We really just jumped in there. It would have been nice to have a few warm-up matches."

But the "warm-up" matches are still over a week away. The immediate schedule doesn't get any friendlier with No. 14 Indiana coming to town Monday.

Bartlett, like Whiteside, did not consider the opening losses disappointing. "I think a lot of us were nervous," she commented. She felt that the team did well considering the caliber of competition that they were up against.

Penn State's No. 1 singles player, Tammy Okins-Nguyen, lost to Wisconsin's Holly Harris 6-2, 6-1, on Sunday. Okins-Nguyen bounced back on Monday, taking Northwestern's Lindsay Matthews to the limit before losing, 6-4, 6-4.

No. 2 Kerri Kohr experienced a rougher trip, losing to the Badgers' Marija Neubauer 6-1, 6-1, before bowing to the Wildcats' Branca Elsberry, 6-1, 6-2.

In doubles, Kohr and Okins-Nguyen gave Wisconsin's No. 1 team of Amanda Gergory and Neubauer all they could handle but still lost, 6-4, 6-4.

Wisconsin improved to 2-3 (1-1 in the Big Ten) while Northwestern moved to 3-3 (2-0).