Coming off its strongest performance of the season, the Penn State women's tennis team now faces its most difficult challenge to date.

The Nittany Lions will travel to Nashville, Tenn., and face a loaded field at the June Stewart invitational, hosted by Vanderbilt University. In addition to Penn State and Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Marshall, Alabama-Birmingham, Purdue, and North Carolina State will be represented during the three-day tournament. Penn State will be looking to build on the momentum created by last week's performance at the Fall Invitational. The best of the field, by far, is Vanderbilt. NCAA runners-up a year ago, the Commodores enter this season ranked first in the Southeast region.

"I think we need to get used to that level of competition," Baker said of Vanderbilt. "The Big Ten is getting better. Northwestern, was ranked in the top 10 last year, but it's not as good as the SEC."

Kentucky, like Vanderbilt, also participated in the NCAA tournament last year, advancing to the second round.

"This weekend will be a step up for us," Baker said. "The overall depth of the tournament is much deeper than what we've seen so far. But it will be good for us."

The tournament will not only feature the season's toughest and deepest field to date; it will also be the largest. A total of nine flights, six singles and three doubles will be contested. Baker has taken the opportunity of facing top competition in a large tournament to test some of her players. This weekend she'll look to Rebecca Ho, Kristen Nowicki, and Maaria Hussain to produce. Ho, Penn State's top singles player, will be competing in the premier flight of the tournament and knows what kind of opportunity awaits her and her team.

"It's important that when we come into a new environment, we show them that we're fighters, that we'll never give up," Ho said.

This weekend provides more than just an opportunity to improve and face tough competition; it offers a chance to exercise some demons. The memories from Vanderbilt are not good. It is the sight of last season's final match, a 4-0 loss to Florida International in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

"Hopefully, we can just carry on with our momentum from last week and go down there with confidence and do our best," Ho said.