If last weekend's Northwestern Duals gave the Penn State women's tennis team some confidence, it's shutout win against Army yesterday was necessary to eliminate of the early season nerves.

"I think this match was more to get rid of the jitters," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said.

"Our lineup is half freshmen, so this match was good for them."

Whatever jitters the team was feeling in it's first regular season match were not very potent as the Lions (1-0) clearly overmatched Army (0-3) in the 7-0 win.

Right from the start in doubles, the Black Knights had no answer for the Lions' more potent groundstrokes and powerful serves.

At first doubles, Penn State's Sasha Abraham and Lauren Holzberg set the tempo early with a comfortable 8-3 win.

Andreea Niculescu and Leila Morzan followed that up by rolling to an 8-0 victory in the third doubles match of the evening.

The Lions only sign of trouble came at second doubles. Katelyn BeVard and Dorothy Dohanics struggled early and fell to a 3-6 deficit.

The duo regained its composure, though, and roared back to win the next five games for an 8-6 win to give the Lions the doubles sweep.

In singles, the Lions again gave Army more than it could handle, winning four of the six matches in straight sets. Abraham and Niculescu played up to their billing as the top two players on the team's ladder and gave up a combined six games in their straight set wins. BeVard also won easily in her straight set win.

Niculescu had little trouble in her match against Army's Kristin Flach and came away with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

"Andreea's composure in matches has improved so much," Baker said.

Abraham also dominated her match, never relinquishing control in a 6-1, 6-2 victory, but she wasn't completely satisfied with her performance.

"I felt reasonably good out there," Abraham said. "I was a little disappointed by the end of the second set, I wish I had closed it out earlier."

In spite of those minor quibbles, Baker was pleased with the performance of her two leaders on the squad.

"They're playing now at a level that is allowing them to dictate and execute the way we see them do in practice," Baker said. "It's showing their level of confidence."

Perhaps the team's most impressive performances, though came from the Lions' three freshman starters.

Morzan started things off by winning her match in straight sets. Holzberg and Dohanics then showed their mettle by winning a couple of tight three-setters.

"There is good energy there. They're still learning but they're accepting the challenge," Baker said. "Not it's just getting them to shake off the nerves."