Facing Big Ten rivals Illinois and Purdue on the road, Penn State Coach Jan Bortner said he would be satisfied with a split.

But the Lions swept their Big Ten weekend. The team defeated the Fighting Illini on Saturday, 5-2, and the Boilermakers, 4-3, on Sunday. A clutch performance by Greg Gaunt against Purdue preserved the sweep.

The victories were the first regular season wins in the Big Ten for Penn State.

"These are two big wins for the team and two big wins for the program," Bortner said. "Illinois and Purdue are highly ranked in the Midwest region and are excellent programs. It was a big boost to get these two wins, especially back to back and on the road."

Chris Cahill, who won both of his weekend matches, agreed with his coach.

"This was a big breakthrough for the team," he said. "The wins should give us more confidence and momentum going into next weekend against Michigan State and Michigan."

On Saturday, the team got off to a good start, winning two out of three in doubles to get a point. The No. 1 team of Ivan Spinner and Gaunt lost, 8-5, but Penn State came back to win its other two matches.

The doubles teams of Marc Price/Chad Skorupka and Mike Tain/Eduardo Abril won, 8-4 and 8-6, respectively. Tain has been suffering from a bruised foot and was questionable for the matches. But he was a major contributor over the weekend with a doubles win on both days.

The singles winners for the Lions were Gaunt, Price, Abril and Cahill. Freshman Cahill replaced Tain at the No. 6 position in singles and excelled. He won, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, against Illinois.

Gaunt won his match, 7-6, 7-6, and Price and Cahill were victorious in three sets. Abril won in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.

The victory gave Penn State confidence heading into Purdue.

"When we got that first win against Illinois," said Bortner, "the players were very determined to get the sweep. All weekend we played with the intensity that we need to win."

Penn State was able to continue its success by winning another point in doubles. Tain and Abril won the deciding match, 9-7, against Purdue. This point would turn out to be the difference.

In singles, No. 1 Spinner won by default after winning the first set against Scott Micus, 6-3. At No. 6, Cahill defeated Curt Lowry, 6-3, 6-0.

"Chris hasn't had a lot of experience," said Bortner. "But he's done a good job for us. This weekend shows, given the opportunity, he can win the Big Ten matches."

The match, though, came down to No. 2 Gaunt. Although all the matches were not completed, Gaunt knew he would be the deciding player. He prevailed in a tough three set match, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, to give the Lions a hard earned 4-3 win.

"Gaunt was the man on the spot," Bortner said. "The pressure was on him and he came up big under the gun. I give a lot of credit to Greg for the way he came through."

Penn State will next face Michigan State and Michigan this weekend at home.