Following a productive week in Florida, the Penn State (6-6) men's tennis team came home and dominated the court.

The Nittany Lions spent their spring break in Florida competing against Florida A&M and Florida State.

They split their matches, beating A&M 5-2 but losing in convincing fashion to the Seminoles 7-0.

Despite the split, senior captain Jamie Gresh felt the week was a success.

"I think it was beneficial because we got into better shape because we were playing outside," he said.

"We did a lot more playing than drills and that got us into better shape."

After two-a-day practices in the scorching sun the Lions traveled home to face Toledo and Duquesne this weekend.

Coming in they knew they had to win both matches if they wanted to reach the .500 plateau.

"We went into it knowing we had to come out and get two wins and we went in and got our record up to .500," junior Brad Nudell said.

First up was Toledo and the Lions came out smoking, winning five of their first six singles matches.

The final match was lost do to a shoulder injury sustained by freshman Clint Keithley.

Penn State also won all three doubles matches, led by Gresh and sophomore Todd Stecko.

The second match of the day against Duquesne witnessed a few new faces taking over where the starters left off.

Freshmen Josh Rubens and Jim Crowell both came out and gave the Lions a lift winning, their matches 6-0, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively. Junior Michael Anderson also saw some playing time as he was teamed with Crowell for the third doubles match.

"A couple of guys were banged up so coach wanted to give them a rest," Gresh said.

"He wanted to throw a couple of freshmen in there and they played real strong."

Nudell was also impressed with his teammates, who despite seeing little playing time this season came out and played like seasoned veterans.

"Because we had two matches we had a couple of guys who have been battling hard who were able to play," Nudell said.

"They haven't had a lot of matches but they came up big."

Crowell said he was excited at the opportunity but was able to take it in stride.

"He (Jan Bortner) told us that we would be getting in but I wasn't sure if it would be singles or doubles so when I found it was both I was pretty excited," Crowell said.

However, he isn't one to get overly enthusiastic

"I'm a big believer that you really need to work on stuff so I wasn't too excited with it," he said. "Until I play a perfect match I'm always looking to get better."

Up next for the Lions is No. 17 Ohio State and the team is ready to continue its winning ways.

"We have nothing to lose, so we're looking to come out swinging and get the upset," Gresh said.