The Penn State women's tennis team was looking for strong outings this past weekend from its stars fighting in the Princeton Invitational and its remaining team against West Virginia.

The Nittany Lions got what they wanted.

Senior Pilar Montgomery won the singles competition at Princeton, and with doubles partner Rebecca Ho, almost took home dual honors for the weekend, losing in the finals.

"Pilar had a great tournament this weekend," Ho said. "She played very smart and extremely well and didn't give her opponents a chance. It was awesome to watch."

While Ho and Montgomery were blazing the courts in New Jersey, Jan Perez and Judy Wang stepped into the places vacated by the aforementioned and led the Lions in a sweep of the Mountaineers.

"I knew we should be okay going into the (WVU) match," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said. "Did I expect to get a sweep? No."

The Nittany Lions (3-2) won two out of the three doubles matches needed to earn one point. For the final six points, the Lions swept the singles portion of the competition. Only one match went to three sets. Kristen Nowicki won in a third set tie-break.

With a strong 2-2 record against top opponents before the match with WVU, the Lions expected a strong showing. Now, the team is brimming with confidence.

"It felt great to achieve a sweep," senior Teresa Whiteside said. "To be honest, even though we were without our top two players, we expected nothing less from ourselves. We wanted the sweep."

The Lions can claim to have a solid line-up from top to bottom.

"We displayed our depth," Baker said. "We took it as business."

It was business as usual. Wang, the normal three, stepped into the first spot and turned her game up a notch.

"Judy faired very well stepping into one," Baker said. "I was excited to see that."

Wang has been pushed by the stellar play of Perez. Typically playing at the four spot, Perez won a match in straight sets at number two on Saturday. Perez, coming off shoulder surgery, showed no ill effects.

"It they're not talking, I figure everything is all right," Baker said.

Although their teammates dispatched their competition in one afternoon, Montgomery and Ho took a weekend to do the same. The pair lost in the finals of doubles against a team from the University of Pennsylvania and returned home all smiles.

"We had a strong tournament even though we lost in the finals," Ho said. "We're still proud of the overall results, especially Pilar's accomplishments."

After all the travel from New Orleans and through the east in the past few weeks, the Lions are happy to be home for once.

"We are very happy not to be travelling," Whiteside said. "But, we are looking forward to adding three wins this weekend."