It may not be David versus Goliath, but in terms of Big Ten tennis, it's the next closest thing.

This weekend the Penn State (6-6, 0-1) men's tennis team will host No. 17 Ohio State at the Sarni Tennis Center.

The Nittany Lions have yet to break into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 75 while the Buckeyes are resting comfortably at No 17.

With no pressure and nothing to lose the team is looking to come out swinging and put the heat on Ohio State early.

"Everybody is going in real fired up and ready for the battle," sophomore Todd Stecko said. "If we can get the doubles point, that will put a lot of pressure on them."

The team feels that the match could ultimately be decided on whether or not they can come away with the doubles point.

The Lions hope that momentum would build and carry itself over to singles play and the Buckeyes would simply fold under the pressure that a road atmosphere can provide.

"The big thing for us is doubles play," Penn State men's tennis coach Jan Bortner said. "We want to come out and establish some things."

Bortner is aware of Ohio States' potent singles lineup and said he didn't see a single flaw.

"You look at their lineup one through six, they don't have any weak spots," Bortner said.

The Buckeyes are bolstered by their No. 1 singles player, junior Phil Metz. Metz could make any coach's stomach weazy and has the ability to turn a match around.

He is the first Ohio State player to become a NCAA Singles Champion qualifier since his current coach, Ty Tucker, did it in 1991.

Metz and his teammates will be one of the toughest opponents Penn State has yet to face, but that doesn't seem to have daunted the Nittany Lions' confidence.

"We're going to go out and play real aggressive in doubles and stay with them early," junior Brad Nudell said. "We know what we want to do so we're going to go out and do it."

Nudell said the team gained confidence following their two dominating victories over Toledo and Duquesne last weekend and feels that will carry over into this weekend's match.

If anything, this match will serve as a barometer to gauge where the team is at and how far it needs to go.

"The big thing for us is to keep getting better each week," Bortner said. "This Sunday will be a great test for us and will show us where we're at with our game."

The road doesn't get any easier for the Lions. They will host another top-ranked foe when No.27 Minnesota invades Happy Valley next weekend.