With only one week until the Big Ten Championships, the men's tennis team will try to improve its seeding this weekend.

Penn State will hit the road to play Wisconsin tomorrow and Northwestern on Sunday. The matches will be crucial to all three teams.

The Lions are currently tied for fourth in the conference at 5-3. They have won five of their last six and hope to continue their solid play this weekend.

"We're trying to get some momentum going into the Big Ten Championships," said Coach Jan Bortner. "We want to stay upbeat and positive against these teams."

The Lions won five straight matches before losing to Indiana last Sunday, and will try to start another streak against Wisconsin.

"We just have to remain positive," said Greg Gaunt. "We have two big matches which we can win. It's just a matter of bouncing back."

Wisconsin is tied for eighth in the Big Ten at 2-6. The Badgers have extra incentive against the Lions with the tournament coming up on May 6-9.

The top seven seeds in the conference will clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship bracket. The eighth through 11th seeds will play a preliminary round with the winner getting the last spot in the championship. With Wisconsin on the bubble, Penn State can expect the Badgers to be fired up.

Northwestern is second in the conference at 7-1. Its only loss was to undefeated Minnesota. The Wildcats would like to preserve their No. 2 seeding and avoid the Golden Gophers until the finals of the championships.

"Northwestern had an outstanding season," Bortner said. "They'll be highly motivated to beat us and keep their high position."

As Penn State tries to improve its seeding, it must balance academics and athletics. Finals will fall right in the middle of this weekend's matches and the championships.

"This is a new situation for me," said Bortner. "The players will have a lot of arrangements to make. They might have to take four or five exams in a two-day period."