Robert Morris would have come into today's men's tennis match as the underdog to Penn State. Now the Colonials will have to play without their top two players as well.

Robert Morris Coach Tom Fleming said his team will be without its top two players, No. 1 Stuart Evans and No. 2 Mark Wallace, for the 3:30 p.m. match today at the Penn State Tennis Center.

"We drop off after our first two (players)," Fleming said. "I don't expect to do much."

Fleming said Evans is ineligible and Wallace will not play for "discipline reasons."

Fleming will go with his No. 3 through No. 8 players, with everyone moving up two spots. Junior Jason Gray, the regular No. 3 player, will move to the No. 1 spot.

"He'll love the challenge," Fleming said, adding the team enjoys playing against good teams like Penn State (5-2).

The Colonials (6-7) recently returned from Hilton Head, S.C. where they faced what Fleming called Penn State-caliber teams. The Colonials went 1-3 on the trip.

"We know what the competition is like," Fleming said.

Lion Coach Jan Bortner said every team has to deal with losing players for periods of time over the course of the season. "There are going to be periods where your team is not going to be at full strength," Bortner said.

Bortner said he will try to get a lot of players into the lineup for today's match. However, Penn State is a young team, so Bortner wants to continue to give the starters experience.

"This time of year you have to give your guys some experience," he said, adding that the doubles teams also need more experience playing together. "(Robert Morris will) come in and play us hard and play us aggressively," Bortner added. "They know this is their big match."

Fleming said his team will do its best to overcome the adversity in the match.

"We'll show up and do the best we can," he said.