The Penn State women's tennis team opened Big Ten play yesterday with a 4-3 loss to No. 25 Indiana, continuing the Lions' trend this season of getting involved in tight matches that come down to the wire.

The team's last five matches have all been decided by one point, and the outing against the Hoosiers was no different. Once again, the Lions suffered through difficult doubles matches, especially at No. 1, where Maaria Husain and Sarah Spence were shut out, 8-0. Sasha Abraham and Jenny Schular were able to pick up an 8-4 win at No. 2, but Indiana picked up the doubles point with a win in the No. 3 spot.

As they have in many matches this season, the Lions looked like a much stronger team in singles play. No. 1 Husain and No. 5 Schular continued to be solid, winning both their matches in three sets. After being down 2-5 in the first set, Schular came back to tie the match and eventually send the set to a tiebreak. Trailing by several match points in the breaker, Schular again came back to win 8-6. Indiana's Brianna Williams came back to win the second, but Schular turned things around to roll in the deciding set, 6-2.

Despite dropping the second set to deadlock the match, Husain was able to maintain her composure in the third set of her match to get the 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win. Husain's win over No. 99 Dora Vastag was her fifth in a row and could possibly push her toward a national individual ranking.

The Hoosiers were able to keep the match tight by winning at No. 2 and 4 singles, putting the Lions in a position where they needed to win the final two matches at No. 3 and 6. No. 5 Andreea Nicalescu won with ease in a 6-1, 6-0 victory, but after a tight second set, No. 3 Sasha Abraham dropped the deciding match 6-2, 7-5. The Lions best hope to get the fourth point was probably at No. 2 singles, where Spence dropped the final set after winning the second.

In the end, the deciding factor was the Lions' inability to consistently execute when they got into pressure situations.

"It's just a matter of knowing you can get the job done when it's tight, as it was getting to be when we needed to win both of those final matches," Penn State coach Buffy Baker said.

While the loss was a disappointment, Baker feels that the team has a lot to feel good about going into conference play, proving that the Lions will be a force to be reckoned with in the competitive Big Ten.

"It should give them a lot of confidence, knowing that they stayed with one of the best teams in the Big Ten," Baker said.