Much like the overhead light that was shattered by an errant tennis ball in the Penn State Tennis Center late in yesterday's match, the early efforts of the Penn State men's tennis team were broken in the end.

The No. 51 Penn State men's tennis team (11-5, 2-2 Big Ten) dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 73 Indiana (8-8, 2-2) after taking a commanding lead through the early stages of singles play.

The Nittany Lions won the first set in four of the six singles matches, but were unable to hold on for the win.

"We lacked killer instinct today, we lacked the knockout punch," Penn State men's tennis coach Jan Bortner said. "Today we let down. ... We played well to a point, but at crunch time we didn't."

After winning the first set 6-3, back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week Malcolm Scatliffe was unable to put away No. 73 Jakub Praibis. Scatliffe, who has been nursing a back injury, appeared to let the pain affect his play as he dropped the second set 1-6. Although he fought back in the third set, he was unable come away with the victory, losing 5-7.

Bortner attributed the loss to Scatliffe's lack of focus late in the match.

"He gets distracted," Bortner said. "He's too worried about his injury, going to the bathroom, getting a drink and the judge's calls. He can't get distracted like that, he just has to get out there and make plays."

One call that particularly affected Scatliffe came late in the third set. The dispute occurred when Scatliffe thought he hit a winner that would have tied the game at 30-30. However, Praibis yelled that the ball was out of bounds and the judge agreed, giving Praibis momentum in what turned out to be the deciding game of the match.

"It was in," a dejected Scatliffe said. "You expect the line judge will be on that."

Scatliffe was not the only player to let an early lead slip away. At second singles, senior Roddy Cantey was unable to finish off Neil Kenner after taking the first set 6-4. He went on to lose sets two and three by scores of 6-7 and 1-6, respectively.

The same was true for third singles, as senior Clint Keithley lost 6-4, 5-7, 4-6 to Tom Bagnato.

The pattern continued as freshman Ryan Berger took the first set but was unable to take the victory against Ryan McCarthy. The Lions dropped the doubles point, getting swept by the Hoosiers to start the match. The momentum Indiana gained helped the Hoosiers to secure the win.

The sole point for the Lions came from freshman Bradley Hunter, who won his match at sixth singles in straight sets, although the overall match was already decided. Preventing a shutout, Hunter defeated Dmytro Ishtuganov 6-2, 7-5.

Although Cantey lost a hard fought match, his presence in the lineup gave the Lions a chance to win the match, Bortner said. Despite being hobbled by a knee injury that got worse as the match progressed, Cantey set an example for the rest of the team.

"He's playing that hard on one leg, some other guys need to play that hard on two legs," Bortner said.