The Penn State men's tennis team returned home Monday following an eventful weekend at the 2001 Rolex East Regional Championships.

Going into the weekend the team had high expectations due to the fact that the ECAC selection committee chose five Penn State players, one fewer than the maximum number of players allowed to participate.

"They showed us respect by giving us five singles spots," said junior Brad Nudell.

The tournament was comprised of 32 teams with each team guaranteed at least one participant but no more than six participants.

Accompanying Nudell was junior Matt Frakes, sophomores Roddy Canety and Todd Stecko and freshmen standout Matt Rose.

In first round action Nudell defeated Alex Davydove of Bucknell, 7-6, 6-0, but lost to Princeton's Trevor Smith in a tough second round match-up.

Jan Bortner was impressed with Nudell's performance and felt he played an impressive match against a solid opponent.

"Nudell had a tough match against Smith but he really pushed him to the limit," Bortner said.

Frakes and Cantey had similar luck, winning their first round matches only to loose to seeded players in the second round.

"We competed well but there were obviously some points for improving," Frakes said. "We need to work on winning the real big points in key situations."

The tournament set-up allowed for a back draw in which a player could qualify if they lost their first match of the championships.

Todd Stecko took full advantage of this.

After losing in the opening round to Yale's Chris Shakelton, he ran the table winning his next four matches in the back draw before losing in the finals.

Nudell and Canety lost in the first round of doubles to Harvard's Brent Salontz and George Turner. Nudell said, despite the early round loss, he is still confident that the doubles team can play at the same high level as the singles.

"We felt that we did well but we see that we can do better," Nudel said.

Following the Rolex tournament, the team and coaches feel that they have a good handle on what they need to improve on.

"I thought our guys overall did a solid job," Bortner said.

"The two areas we really need to work on are the return of second serves and doing a better job with our transition game."

Nudell feels the team can use their performance as motivation for the rest of the season.

"We really left with the feeling that we could've done more," he said, "and that type of attitude will really fire you up."