As two Penn State players return from a tournament this week, two others prepare to embark on another. Steve Van Der Westhuyzen and Jamie Gresh participated in last weekend's ITA All-American Championships in Stone Mountain, Ga., one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

"The best of the best play there," Van Der Westhuyzen said of the event, part of collegiate tennis' grand slam.

"It's a high level of competition."

Van Der Westhuyzen advanced to the second round of qualifying, posting a tough 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over a player from Texas in the first round. The senior said he made some early adjustments after losing the first set.

"I started to hit some better returns," he said. "That put him under more pressure. I also started hitting some passing shots."

Van Der Westhuyzen then fell to a nationally ranked player from Duke, 6-1, 6-2.

Gresh lost his first round singles match to a representative from Mississippi State, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. In doubles play, Gresh and Van Der Westhuyzen teamed and faced a tough opening match against the third-seeded team from Duke.

The Nittany Lions hung tough before falling 9-8.

"We played well enough to win," Van Der Westhuyzen said. "We got a little unlucky. We were right there in it; we should have taken them out. They got lucky on us."

Head coach Jan Bortner said that Gresh and Ven Der Westhuyzen should take solace in the fact that they were placed in the qualifying round to begin with. Players are placed in one of three draws to start the tournament. The best of the elite start in the main draw, but most begin in the pre-qualifying draw. The two Nittany Lion players were permitted to bypass the pre-qualifying draw and were placed in the qualifying draw from the start .

"Just the fact they were in qualifying was a statement of recognition of what they have been doing, the way they have been playing," Bortner said. "It's quite an accomplishment."

Meanwhile, seniors Damon Accardi and Matt Neilsen will face some high competition of their own starting today at the Pennsylvania Classic in Philadelphia. The tournament is an invitational, said Bortner, meaning it was prestigious for Accardi and Neilsen to get toparticipate. After the Penn Classic, only one more tournament awaits Penn State this fall. The Rolex East Regional is Nov. 6-10 at Virginia Tech.

The Rolex is an important individual tournament, according to Bortner. The Nittany Lions, buoyed by a strong showing at the ECAC Championships two weeks ago, should be well represented in Blacksburg by perhaps as many as five or six players.

"It's quite an accomplishment to qualify for the Rolex," Bortner said. "The more guys you get in, the better off you are."