Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras have barely had a chance to enjoy the comfort of the living room La-Z-Boy.

Just a month after their epic battle in the U.S. Open finals, the Penn State men's tennis team gets to play in their footsteps.

The Nittany Lions head to Flushing, N.Y., this weekend to participate in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Championships. The championships, which last from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7, will be held in the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center.

The National Tennis Center, home of the ATP's U.S. Open, is the largest tennis facility in the world. The main venue alone, Arthur Ashe Stadium, holds roughly 23,000 spectators and is joined by 33 outdoor and 9 indoor courts at the tennis complex.

The Center is open to the public most of the year, but, despite abundant use from the St. John's men's and women's teams, the complex does not get a lot of collegiate competition.

"There were three conference championships here last year," director of tennis Bill Mountford said. "And we hope for more in the future. This [ECAC] is the biggest tournament on the East Coast -- with the winner qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships. My goal when I came here 16 months ago was to better accommodate college athletics."

Those accommodations are being put to use this weekend when 15 teams will join Penn State at the ECAC. Those teams -- coming from Boston College, Brown, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Rutgers, St. Bonaventure, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and Yale -- are some of the best teams in the east.

"The top 16 teams in the east will be there," Penn State tennis coach Jan Bortner said. "This is when you want to show what you can do."

Getting to show what you can do at a venue such as the National Tennis Center adds a lot of excitement to the team's already upbeat attitude.

"I have always watched the U.S. Open on television," freshman Malcolm Scatliffe said. "I have never been to New York but this should be really exciting."

Sophomore Josh Rubens added that the atmosphere is a lot different this year heading into the ECAC than it was last year. Last season the Lions headed into the ECAC winless. The team picked up its first win of the season at the tournament by defeating Rutgers but would then lose to Princeton in the quarterfinals.

The pressure of playing in a top-notch professional arena can be overwhelming at times, but the Penn State squad seems to be taking it all in stride.

"This is why I came to Penn State," Scatliffe said. "I came here to play in the big matches --the ECAC, tournaments like that."

With the winner gaining an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Indoor Championships, and the ECAC having a heavy influence on the eastern rankings later in the year, this is an important weekend for Penn State. Head coach Jan Bortner hopes the team can do well while enjoying the experience in the process.

"For all the teams getting to play there this will be an exciting event," Bortner said. "The guys are going to enjoy it, getting to play at the USTA National Tennis Center. I think it just adds something to the tournament. If you can't get excited for a tournament like this there is something wrong with you."