Down 2-1 in the third set of her match against Cincinnati's Julie Klauck, Penn State's Jessica McKeown began hobbling around the court after returning the ball.

A silent hush fell over the crowd at the Penn State Tennis Center. McKeown was competing in just her third tournament this fall since returning from a two-year battle with numerous nagging knee and back injuries.

Slowly, the crowd and teammates began murmuring about whether McKeown would retire.

She limped around a bit more, stretched her left quadriceps and set for the next point.

For the last two years, McKeown's teammates have seen her grit her teeth through pain, and when they saw her set for another point, they knew that she wasn't going to give up.

"She's not going to quit," her teammates said. "She's not going to retire."

They were right, but the pain was just too much, and Klauck escaped to win the set and the match.

McKeown's gutsy performance Saturday was the final match of what turned out to be a successful weekend for the Penn State women's tennis team at the Penn State Fall Classic, the final event of its fall season. Against Cincinnati and Toledo, the Nittany Lions won 10 of 13 singles matches and three of five of their doubles matches.

Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said that though the outcome wasn't what McKeown wanted, it was what she portrayed and left on the court.

"What we saw there was just pure all out heart," Baker said. "You're out there for yourself, and that's just the pride that she has. That's her competitive nature."

McKeown said after the match that she thought the injury was nothing more than a cramp and that she didn't think that she re-aggravated any past injuries. Baker suspects that the injury occurred purely because of dehydration.

Despite the pain, she said that she never thought about retiring.

"Buffy said, 'You know you don't have to do this,' " McKeown said. "I told her, 'No, I can. I'm playing this match. I'm finishing.'"

Improbably, after slipping behind in the final set 4-1, she battled back to knot it at 4-4. Klauch won the next two points, however, to close out the more than three hour-long match.

"If I hadn't cramped, I think I should have beaten her," McKeown said. "I'm just happy I finished it. I'm not really concerned that I lost it right now."

Teammate Lindsay Downing, who posted a team best 22-17 record at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles spots last season, also returned to the court after spending four weeks on the sidelines. She won in straight sets Friday (6-0, 6-1) over Toledo's Jen Meister.

"It's frustrating to be on the sidelines, but it feels good to be back," the sophomore said. "It was nice to be back out there with my teammates and having fun again."

In other action, Penn State senior Leigh Ann Merryman, junior Sarah Spence and freshman Katelyn BeVard each posted two singles wins this weekend.

"I felt that at times, we just physically outlasted players," Baker said of her team's performance. "With points that we shouldn't have won, we just ran down balls. That was just a sign of their eagerness and their desire to compete."