Despite a valiant effort, the Penn State (6-7, 0-2) men's tennis team was swept by No. 15 Ohio State, losing 7-0 and again finding themselves below the .500 mark.

The Nittany Lions, who have failed to break into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 75 all season, knew it was going to be a tough win to come away with.

However, they are confident that they will learn from this match and use it to their advantage.

"Of all the things, I think it showed us what we need to do better in the future so I think we learned a lot," senior captain Jamie Gresh said.

Coach Jan Bortner felt it was simply a case of the better team winning.

"Ohio State was just too good for us," he said. "I thought our guys played hard but overall as a team they (Ohio State) are just an outstanding squad."

Gresh put up a solid performance against the Buckeyes No. 1 singles player Phil Metz, but in the end wasn't able to finish him off, losing 6-4, 6-4.

However, Gresh feels neither he nor his teammates will let this defeat stay fresh in their minds for too long.

"Nobody was hanging their head," Gresh said. "We can't dwell on it, we have to look to get better in the up coming matches."

The Buckeyes were also able to take the doubles point, but not without a fight.

The No. 1 doubles team of Gresh and sophomore Todd Stecko were a formidable opponent and pushed Ohio State to the limit before falling 9-7.

Junior Matt Frakes said he isn't worried about the teams' confidence and is sure they will have the resiliency to bounce back.

"Our team confidence won't be hurt," he said. "We were expecting a tough match and I think we competed well."

The Lions, who are below .500 again, know the importance of getting their record back up, but feel their play will take care of that.

For a team that is still feeling the sting from a venomous defeat, sometimes the best antidote is getting right back out there and competing again.

Luckily for the Lions, they are going to get that opportunity. Following a two-day rest from competition they are getting set to face St. Francis tomorrow at The Sarni Tennis Center.

Gresh said that the team is well aware of the importance of this match.

"It's crucial," he said.

"It's a team we've played before but we can't take them lightly. We just need to play to our ability. We need to be more aggressive and come out with a sense of urgency."

The team hopes to pass the test tomorrow, but whatever the outcome, they won't have too long to think about it as No. 27 Minnesota will be in town on Sunday.