Tuesday, the men's tennis team's match against Robert Morris was a walk in the park. Yesterday, as Greg Gaunt will attest, the match was a bit tougher. But, the Lions were able to step up and make the improvements necessary to do well this weekend.

Penn State improved its record to 4-2 by beating previously undefeated St. Bonaventure (7-1) 7-0. In the most competitive match of the evening, Gaunt beat Thiru Govender 7-6, 6-3, giving Penn State its second straight shutout and giving himself, a little more confidence for the upcoming matches.

"It was a very intense match," Gaunt said. "It was just something I really needed to prove to myself what I can do, which is to pull one out when I'm not playing as well as I should be."

Gaunt wasn't the only player to move his game up a notch. The rest of the players, in both singles and doubles play, were able to focus on their problems and and take the steps necessary to correct them.

"It was a step up for us in terms of competition, and the things we've been working on . . . are starting to come around," Coach Jan Bortner said.

Ivan Spinner improved his spring unbeaten streak to 6-0, beating Naveen Singh 6-1, 6-2. Chad Skorupka showed some improvement in his 6-2, 6-0 victory over Adofo Willett and sophomore Doug Schoenly beat Jamie Spasato by an impressive 6-3, 6-1.

"People were moving their feet a lot better, and when you do that you play better," Skorupka said.

The Lions are using this week's matches to evaluate their performance as they move into their matches at 9 a.m. Sunday against Washington College, then at 2:30 p.m. against Pittsburgh at the Penn State Tennis Club.

"Washington's going to be a very tough match. They're going to come in here and go after us," Bortner said. "We're going to have to play very well to win the match."

The team will try to use this week's matches, as well as a good performance on Sunday, in hopes of carrying the momentum into the two Big Ten matches next week.

"Basically, we'll use these four matches to get geared up for Illinois and Purdue on Easter weekend," Skorupka said.