In its first action of the season, the women's tennis team literally swept the competition and returned from a sunny Bermudian match-packed spring break with a 4-0 record.

In the span of five days, four matches were played against Boston University, Virginia Tech, James Madison and Syracuse. Each team was shot down in quick succession by the strong, depth-filled Penn State team.

"These were just huge wins, especially Syracuse," Coach Sue Whiteside said. "I really think we went there and stunned them. We just dominated all the other matches."

With a 4-0 record on the season, the Lady Lions are off to a running head start. However, Syracuse provided a wall of competition that the best of Penn State could not penetrate.

Freshman Olga Novikova, ranked 31st nationally, was not able to fulfill her prediction of a perfect personal-best season. Against Syracuse, Novikova lost to No. 14 ranked nemesis Jana Strnadova with a score of 6-4, 6-2. The loss was Novikova's first of the season and only the second of her Penn State career. The Syracuse team also caused problems for senior Okins-Nguyen, who lost 6-2, 6-4 to No. 15 ranked Erica O'Neill.

"I played (O'Neill) my sophomore year and I knew what I was expecting from her," Okins-Nguyen said. "She has this style that I just don't like."

O'Neill's style, as Okins-Nguyen explained, is one of indifference. She doesn't seem to exert much effort yet she holds a national ranking far surpassing any Lady Lion.

Later the two pairs of Okins-Nguyen/Novikova and Strnadova/O'Neill competed against each other in the No. 1 doubles postion. Once again Strnadova/O'Neill, ranked No. 22 nationally, proved to be the better players, but this time by a much smaller margin. Okins-Nguyen and Novikova fought back in the second set and finished with a score of 6-3, 7-5.

With the help of Robyn Reagan, Andi Chiumento, Kristin Kovalik and Tricia Lehman, the Lady Lions pulled through with a close team win over the Orangewomen by a score of 5-4.

Penn State will open up Big Ten competition against Illinois on Friday and long-time rival Purdue on Saturday while trying to hold on to its perfect season.

"Illinois is the team we're really gunning for," Whiteside said. "We've always beat Purdue so we want to keep that streak going, but we're definitely trying to get prepared for the Illinois match. They've beaten us in the past and we've never beaten them, so we're looking forward to going there and playing them."