Depth is a great advantage for any coach -- especially when that coach is starting his first full season. Penn State men's tennis coach Bill Potoczny will be armed with a very deep lineup as he leads the Nittany Lions in his first spring as head coach.

"It's a great learning experience," Potoczny, the former Lions assistant coach said. "It's a lot of hard work, but it's been a joy to do, and I'm enjoying the experience, especially with a fun bunch of guys to do it with."

Potoczny will be able to count on his lineup with two senior co-captains in Mark Barry and Malcolm Scatliffe.

Scatliffe is a former No. 1 singles player for the Lions and provides a great one-two punch with Barry at the top of the lineup. In his final season at Penn State, Barry will be looking to build off his impressive fall, when he competed well against the nation's top players in two national invitational tournaments.

"He could have a year that, maybe when he was a freshman, he never dreamed of," Potoczny said. "I don't think there is a player in the country he can't hang with."

Along with juniors Ryan Berger and Brad Hunter, the Lions have three experienced sophomores, all with Big Ten matches under their belts.

Youthful experience is in no short order as Potoczny has depth with his three freshmen as well. All three, including standout Adam Slagter, had promising fall campaigns and continue to improve, their coach said.

"Adam's progress has been steady," Potoczny said. "When he came in, in a few weeks he made that jump and had a great fall. Right now he's looking very good for spring."

While having too much depth is always a good problem, the Lions will have to draw on it early this spring, as they will be without Hunter for an indefinite tenure. The junior suffered an ankle injure during preseason conditioning and now his usual No. 4 singles spot and slot next to Berger in doubles will be open.

"Even though Brad's hurt, we have guys who will step in and take his spot," Scatliffe said. "But he'll get better, it's a good thing we're so deep."

With their depth, the Lions should be able to "absorb the injury," Potoczny said. But while the team should be strong enough at singles, there will be some shakeups in the doubles pairings to try to find a good fit while Hunter is out.

"While we're going to have to change the lineup due to injury, you want to make as few changes as possible," Potoczny said. "You want to make the adjustments but without trying too many teams."

Even with changes in their doubles pairings, the Lions must be willing to improve at that part of the game, which has been a sore spot with the team for a long time.

During this past fall, the Lions were looking to capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference Invitational crown, but were upset 5-2 as the top seed by No. 4 Penn in the semifinals. After starting down 1-0 because of not winning the doubles point, it was an uphill battle the Lions could not conquer.

The good news is that spring is a whole new ball game.

"We're an entirely different, new team, and I think we're playing better as a team," Berger said. "That's where the motivation comes from; we're not thinking about the past anymore, we're thinking about our first match [this] weekend and then going into the Big Ten season."