The Penn State women's tennis team will have three opponents this weekend: Minnesota, Wisconsin and revenge.

After defeating both Big Ten rivals last season at home, Penn State must now make the return trip to face two teams anxious for redemption.

"Every team we beat last season is going to try to get revenge," No. 1 singles player Rebecca Ho said. "Every match will be competitive, we just have to raise our level."

The No. 68 Lions (2-3, 0-1 Big Ten) will head to Minnesota (3-6, 0-1) tomorrow and No. 41 Wisconsin (6-2, 1-0) on Sunday in search of their first conference victory. Last year's record setting five conference victories were kick-started by a pair of wins over the Gophers and Badgers to start the conference season. After dropping a 4-3 decision to Ohio State earlier this year, Penn State hopes history repeats itself in order to get their first Big Ten win.

"We came out strong against Ohio State, and we kind of expected the momentum to carry over," freshman No. 2 singles player Maaria Husain said. "We got frustrated with the losses to Princeton and Penn, but we are improving, we should have some good results this weekend."

Head coach Buffy Baker knows the wins will come.

"I'm not overly anxious to get the first Big Ten win," Baker said. "Everyone in the conference is so similar, there's a lot of parity. We just need to prove ourselves."

Minnesota, unranked and having only defeated Marquette, Iowa State and Oral Roberts this season, will come in as an underdog against the Lions. Sophomore Valerie Vladea and junior Michaela Havelkova lead the Gophers.

"Minnesota has been struggling," Baker said. "We have to get up on them early and see if we can force them to play our game. If they go down though, they'll go down swinging."

The Badgers will most likely provide a sterner test for Penn State. With their only two defeats coming to national powers Stanford and Washington and having defeated No. 37 Old Dominion last month, the Badgers have the look of a Big Ten contender.

"We want to be known as a team that will continually fight no matter the situation," Wisconsin head coach Patti Henderson said. "We want teams to know they are playing Wisconsin and there won't be any easy matches."

Wisconsin's top players are senior Vanessa Rauh and junior Linde Mues.

"Wisconsin has proven themselves to be a very tough team, it's a totally different team from last year," Baker said.

Penn State's trip to Wisconsin will be a homecoming of sorts for Baker.

Baker served as a Badger assistant from 1996-1998 and Hanson coached Baker during her stellar career at Florida State.

"We're best friends," Baker said. "Its kind of bittersweet playing against your best friend. But that being said, I still want to win."

Henderson echoes Baker's thoughts.

"We're the best of friends, but we still have a healthy rivalry"

Although she would not tip her hand, Baker said that there would be some lineup changes this weekend.

One change that does not appear likely is lowering Ho from the top position to let her ankle heal.

"I don't plan to take her out of number one until she shows she can't hold her own at that position," Baker said.

"She's still struggling. The key is not to give in. She has to rise above her injuries -- no excuses."