It's too late for the women's tennis team to avoid finishing its season with a winning record, but it would be satisfied just to get its Big Ten win of the season.

The Nittany Lions (6-12) have not won a match since spring break. Last weekend the Lions played better but still came out on the wrong side of 4-3 matches against Illinois and Purdue.

"That was the first time we came out and really wanted it more than our opponent," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said. "We were bummed, but we realize that we're doing the right things."

Penn State hopes that last week's momentum will carry over to this weekend, as they go on the road to face No. 11 Northwestern and No. 52 Wisconsin. The Lions play Northwestern on tomorrow at noon, then play at Wisconsin on Sunday at noon.

Northwestern (15-4) was at the top of the Big Ten until two weeks ago, when it lost to Illinois. No. 3 ranked singles player Cristelle Grier leads the Wildcats and combines with teammate Jessica Rush to form the No. 2 doubles pair in the country.

The Wildcats returned to their winning form last weekend as they shut out Minnesota and beat Iowa 6-1.

After a slow start in the Big Ten, Wisconsin (10-9) comes into the weekend with three-straight Big Ten wins against Iowa, Minnestoa, and Purdue.

The Lions have struggled in matches on the road this season. All of their six wins this season have come at home or neutral sites.

"I'm not sure there's any real reason why things happened the way they did. There's nothing on the road that really hurts us," Baker said.

Whatever the reason for their road woes, the Lions will need to overcome them and play better than last weekend if they would like to stop the hemorrhaging and grab a win.