Netmen travel to take on No. 36 Northwestern

The time is now for the Penn State men's tennis team. The Nittany Lions won't be able to ease into this spring season, as they face two tough Big Ten teams this weekend.

The Lions first will play at No. 36 Northwestern tomorrow. The Wildcats are strong this year, and they are riding high after a convincing 5-2 win over Arizona last week.

"They are one of the favorites in the Big Ten," Lion coach Jan Bortner said. "By opening against them, we are going to know where we are pretty early in the season."

Northwestern is led by its top three players, Alex Witt, Marc Silva and Ryall Tarpley. They are all talented players who have performed well this season.

"That's definitely the strength of their lineup," Bortner said. "We are going to have our hands full with them."

The weekend should get a little easier as the Lions travel to Wisconsin for their match against Badgers on Sunday.

Wisconsin has struggled this spring, going 1-4. But a young Badger squad has made great strides to become a tougher team, and it wants to put an end to its losing ways.

"We really need this match pretty badly," Badger assistant coach Todd Koehler said. "We don't want to dig ourselves an even deeper hole."

Penn State enters the weekend with several concerns. Its No. 1 player, Michael Carter, is still recovering from a pulled hamstring. His status is labeled as day to day.

Bortner also is worried about the team's doubles. The Lions dropped the A flight doubles' final to Bloomsburg at last weekend's Winter Classic, and they are still trying to settle on doubles pairings.

"We are going to look at different combinations," Bortner said. "Traditionally we don't like to settle on our doubles combinations too early in the season."

Penn State will need a healthy Carter and solid doubles play to make this a winning weekend, and not simply a learning experience.