The Penn State women's tennis team came out of its last two home matches of the season empty-handed this past weekend. The Northwestern Wildcats (14-7, 6-1 Big Ten) and the Wisconsin Badgers (8-10, 3-4) came to Happy Valley to face off against a Nittany Lion team searching for a big win.

The Lions (7-11, 2-6) are nearing the end of a seven-match stretch against Big Ten opponents and have only claimed one of those victories so far. The final two conference matches will be played on the road this weekend.

On Saturday, Penn State took on collegiate-tennis powerhouse Northwestern, which owns the past four Big Ten titles. The Wildcats boast a stellar roster with four nationally-ranked players, highlighted by freshman Cristelle Grier at No. 6. Grier also pairs with teammate Jessica Rush to form the eighth-ranked doubles duo in the country.

Penn State began the match against Northwestern relatively strong in doubles. Megan Marton and Judy Wang, at the No. 2 position, won their match for the Lions, but a hard-fought effort put forth by Lindsay Downing and April Uy came up short by a score of 8-5 as the Wildcats took the early lead by claiming the doubles point.

Uy stepped into the lineup for Penn State and took over the No. 6 slot due to a late-week ankle sprain incurred by Sarah Spence.

Spence slipped on a ball during practice and said the injury was a minor, first-degree sprain. She expects to be at full strength for the matches this weekend.

In singles competition, the momentum remained with the Wildcats as they claimed five of the six matches, all in straight-set victories. For Penn State, Maaria Husain was the lone player to down her opponent. Husain won decisively in two sets, going 6-2, 6-0 over Northwestern's Jamie Peisel.

Husain said she gained momentum early in her match and frustrated her opponent by not giving her a chance to come back.

The Lions suffered a convincing defeat to Northwestern by a score of 6-1.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Badgers entered the Sarni Tennis Center to take on the Lions. The Badgers hold a similar record and have a comparable roster to Penn State's. The matchup, in the Lions' eyes, was supposed to end closer than it did.

The doubles point was lost after a close battle between the duos. All season long, Penn State has been unable to win a match in which it did not claim the doubles point.

Spence was able to fight off ankle pains to participate in doubles, though Uy replaced her for singles.

The singles contests were hard-hitting matchups between the Big Ten opponents, all with several lead changes.

Like the previous day, momentum was a factor for the Lions as they watched their leads disappear and frustration set in.

Uy was up 5-3 in her second set, but then surrendered the final four games, the set and the match to her Wisconsin opponent.

Like Uy, Marton, at the No. 1 position, saw her 5-2 lead in the first set slip away as she was unable to score again on the day. Wisconsin's Linde Mues rallied to claim the next 11 games and win the match over Marton.

"It was a tough day," Marton said. "She was making a lot of her balls and taking away my angle."

Wang and Downing were able to knock off their opponents but had little to celebrate, as they knew Penn State had already lost 5-2.

The sentiment was unanimous after the second day's loss. Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker expressed disappointment to her team. Baker told the women that they were unable to handle the adversity applied by their opponents.

"We were not tough enough today," Baker said. "We are not willing to deal with uncomfortable situations. We need to be stingy."

Baker said her team will need to approach the matches this weekend against Minnesota and Iowa with a tougher attitude than what she saw over the past two days.

Those matches will be the final two conference and regular season meets for Penn State before it moves onto the Big Ten tournament the following week.