Exams are difficult and stressful in any situation, but for the Penn State women's tennis team, the tests just came at the wrong time.

After a jam-packed weekend of tennis play, the women were quickly thrown into the first round of exams. With only four days of rest, the team is competing in the 19th annual Furman Fall Classic this weekend, starting at 8 a.m. today in Greenville, S.C.

Last weekend's Cissie Leary Invitational had the players competing in several matches in a span of three days. For the first tournament of the year, it was bound to take a toll on the women.

"Practices have not been great this week," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said. "We've been working on getting our bodies back as well as getting into the swing of classes. Exams have definitely been a factor in the recovery. It is all about who has taken care of their bodies and who is mentally refreshed for this weekend."

The Furman Classic begins with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles play today. Unlike last weekend, this tournament pits No. 1 players from each team against No. 1 players from another team. All the players are ranked by their coaches and play another team's equally ranked player.

For Penn State, Baker penciled in junior Sasha Abraham as the No. 1 player for this tournament. Junior Andreea Niculescu is ranked second, and sophomore Jenny Shular rounds out the top three. Both Abraham and Niculescu made it to the third round of singles competition last weekend. Shular made it to the final round of the singles consolation bracket but sat out the match due to a shoulder injury.

Baker made it clear that Shular's injury should not be an issue.

"She's feeling good," Baker said. "We're just going to take it match by match. It will be much tamer than last weekend since there will be no more back-to-back matches."

Even though the tournament might be run at a much slower pace, the competition is still strong, if not stronger. Penn State will go against six other schools that are all nationally ranked in the top- 75. Notable rankings include Vanderbilt at No. 8, Clemson at No. 10 and North Carolina at No. 11.

Wisconsin will be the only other Big Ten school in attendance. The No. 32 player in the nation, Wisconsin's Caitlin Burke, will be at another tennis tournament, but that does not make the competition any easier for Penn State.

"I would say that the competition will be at the level of the toughest match from last weekend," Baker said.

The results from last weekend proved that one aspect that needs improvement is the doubles team record. Baker mentioned that the level of energy on the doubles court is key, and it is the players' job to create that energy. Baker is still in the process of seeing which doubles partners work the best together and which combination gains the best results. The only combination Baker kept together was the Abraham/Shular team that made it to the final round of last weekend's consolation bracket.

Baker realizes that the team is still feeling the stresses of the beginning of a new season and semester, but she continues to be confident in her players.

"It gives us the opportunity to see them not playing at their top level," Baker said. "It's all about turning a negative into a positive."