It's crunch time now, and the Penn State women's tennis team has one last shot in the regular season to prove that it can compete strongly with its Big Ten foes.

The Lions (6-11, 1-7 Big Ten) will close out the regular season with two home matches that the team hopes will redeem another disappointing conference season. At 5 p.m. today, the Lions will host Michigan State (11-9, 1-7) at the Sarni Tennis Center and will follow that match on Sunday against No. 41 Michigan (10-9, 5-3).

If the Lions are to have a strong showing, they must find a way to shake the frustration from losing two matches last weekend to Iowa and Minnesota, which brought a screeching halt to the momentum Penn State picked up by defeating Ohio State on April 10.

The team has focused on forgetting its past losses by learning from them and moving on. Sunday's loss to Minnesota could be especially difficult to shake, as the team went to three sets in four of the singles matches that could have gone either team's way.

"We just phrase it like 'we're going match-to-match,' " Penn State coach Buffy Baker said. "Let's worry about day-to-day practice and know we can walk away a better team."

Doubles, a sore spot all season, will be key to a good start for Penn State. Last weekend, the team tried some new pairings for doubles with limited results. In six doubles matches, the team picked up only one win all weekend, when the No. 2 team of Sarah Spence and Andreea Niculescu earned an 8-5 win against Minnesota.

The Lions doubles players have lacked a sense of urgency and mental toughness -- one readily evident in most of the team's singles matches. Time after time, the Lions will find themselves in tight matches but fall in the final stages.

Baker said they key this weekend will be the team's ability to push itself. That could be crucial for two needed wins and some momentum going into the Big Ten Championships next week.

"It's just a matter of being prepared to accept the challenge," Baker said. "They've got to continue to be ready to press themselves."