With a Big Ten lifetime record of 0-3 against Illinois, it came as no surprise to the Lady Lions that the Illini would be tough. But no one expected the crushing 9-0 loss which occurred on Saturday.

"We were all psyched up (for the Illinois match). We thought we could pull it off but I guess we just weren't ready 'cause it was our first Big Ten match," Tammy Okins-Nguyen said. "The caliber between a Big Ten team and one in the East is so much different. And not only did we have to play them, but we had to play their attitudes too. I think every single person got in a fight with their opponent. It wasn't fun at all."

Matches against Illinois and Purdue this past weekend marked the first conference competition of the season. The Lady Lions (5-1) came away with a split by beating the Boilermakers 6-3 on Sunday.

"Against Illinois, we really weren't as ready and prepared as we needed to be," Coach Sue Whiteside said. "We've been playing well coming off those four wins, but sometimes if you don't have tough competition to compare yourself to, you don't really know what to expect.

Illinois swept Penn State in both singles and doubles competition with only two matches reaching three sets.

"That was our first Big Ten match, and that was a tough way to start, but it was good that we played it early in the season." Whiteside said. "But we definitely bounced back to get our focus for the Purdue match. Actually we played pretty well against Purdue and I was happy with our singles."

The Lady Lions fared much better in Indiana with a dominant win over Purdue. Penn State won all but one of the top six singles matches, with Novikova, Okins-Nguyen, Tricia Lehman, Robyn Reagan and Andi Chiumento pulling through with wins. The doubles teams experienced some touble, however. No. 1 and No. 2 doubles lost in two sets and the No. 3 team won through default.

"Purdue -- we pretty much knew we were going to beat them because they've never beaten us," Okins-Nguyen said. "We were down (following the Illinois match) but we got ourselves psyched up again for Purdue. We knew we had to win this one, so we pulled it off."

Now, with six matches out of the way, the Lady Lions look forward to a two-week break -- time to regroup and prepare for the rest of the Big Ten.

"I think now that we know what's expected," Whiteside said. "We talked about increasing the intensity of practices a little bit more and making practices along the kind of level we have to compete with.

"I definitely have the players to do that," she added. "My players are very talented, very determined, so I'm positive for the rest of the season."