After being on the road for its first two tournaments of the fall season, the Penn State women's tennis team returns to the Sarni Tennis Facility this weekend to host the PSU Fall Tournament starting today at 9 a.m. and lasting until Sunday.

The team will battle players from Eastern Michigan, American, Yale and Seton Hall. This will be the only time during the fall season that players from other schools will travel to Penn State, and many of the players are looking forward to a high level of competition at home.

"I think they're excited to be at home after two hard road trips," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said.

Many of the players relish the opportunity to play at home because family members will finally get a chance to see them in action. Several players have parents and siblings flying in for the weekend.

Lindsay Downing, who is coming off a strong second-place finish at the Maryland Invitational, is looking forward to seeing her parents for the first time this year. Her parents will fly in from Arizona, and Downing says that the weekend will be extra special because she and her parents will share the realization of a goal.

"It was always a goal to play tennis for a Div. I school," Downing said. "My parents will get to see the completion of a goal."

Baker has been extremely impressed with Downing, the team's only freshman, this year.

"Lindsay is gaining more and more confidence with each tournament she plays," Baker said.

In its first two tournaments of the year, the team has looked strong in doubles play, and shown positive flashes in singles play. Baker said she would like to see the team's decision-making get better in singles, but she is pleased with its focus and progress.

Maaria Husain says that distractions will not be an issue as the team competes for the first time at home this season.

"All of us are very focused," Husain said. "We'll do the same things as on the road."

The tournament will not be one in which players battle to advance to the next round.

Rather, it will take more of a team tournament format, where each player from Penn State will compete against one player from each of the other four teams.

There will be no finals or champions, but players will finish the tournament with overall singles and doubles records.