For spring sports teams, the culmination of the fall season usually serves as an opportunity to retrospectively gauge where their team stands.

And that is exactly what the Penn State men's tennis team is doing following the recently completed Big Ten Indoor Individual Championships.

"I think the fall season gave us a ground to see where we stood," said senior captain Jamie Gresh. "We need to improve in certain aspects, but overall we did a good job."

Assistant coach Bill Potoczny sees a team that has laid the groundwork for a successful spring campaign.

"We had some positive aspects that we're going to build on," he said. "I'm pretty encouraged. We have to get Gresh healthy but it gave a lot of guys an excellent opportunity."

The Big Ten Championships, held at Michigan State, exposed the team to their first Big Ten action of the season.

Penn State had six players in the main draw and two in the back draw. Sophomore Todd Stecko and freshmen Matt Rose where the only players to advance past the first round.

"I'd say we did pretty well but Frakes and Cantey had pretty tough draws," Stecko said. "The Big Ten is a lot tougher for us, it's going to be a battle."

The team is still confident that they will place strong in the conference and that they have a legitimate chance to make the NCAA tournament.

Their confidence stems from what they feel was a strong showing at Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships where they finished 7th despite losing Gresh to a rotator cuff injury.

Another reason for their buoyancy is the fact that the ECAC selection committee chose the maximum of six players to compete in the Rolex East Regionl Championships.

"It showed that the east realizes we have a lot of potential," Potoczny said. "With six guys in, that's quite an accomplishment."

The teams focus is now on improving their doubles play and working on more aggressive serves and returns. Accomplishing this, the team feels, will help them make the NCAA tournament.

"Right now our goal is to make the tournament so we will have to finish at least middle of the pack," Potoczny said. "Illinois and Minnesota are dominant teams, there are other strong teams but everybody is behind those two."

Potoczny still realizes that the key to a successful season is having the upperclassmen fulfill their potential.

"You have to look at guys who have been around the program to step up," he said. "These guys realize that we're right there with the other teams."