After jumping up 18 spots in the national rankings, the No. 39 Penn State men's tennis team might have a target on its back.

The Nittany Lions (11-1, 1-1 Big Ten) host Indiana at noon today, either outdoors at the Sarni Tennis Center or inside the Penn State Tennis Center, depending on the weather.

Last year the Hoosiers (11-6, 0-2) shut out Penn State 7-0, to earn their first conference win. Today, with the Lions holding their highest ranking in this decade, Indiana will be gunning for its first Big Ten win.

"Our guys have to know that we're not just another good team anymore," Penn State coach Bill Potoczny said. "If we have this rank, a lot of the teams are going to come after us like they have nothing to lose -- that can catapult someone up in the rankings."

The Lions earned their own trip up the rankings with a gutsy 4-3 victory against a higher-ranked Virginia Tech team. If they can stay at least in the 40s, the Lions will have a great shot at achieving their No. 1 goal, reaching the NCAA team tournament.

"The big thing now is you can actually start talking about it," Potoczny said. "You don't want to talk too much about it until you're in a position."

However it won't be easy to keep their new ranking, as Indiana starts off the Lions' final stretch of the Big Ten season. To avoid any letdown, the Lions will have to be at their best.

Indiana got off to a rough start and has actually fallen out of the rankings, but a win against a highly ranked Penn State team could get them right back on track, Potoczny said.

"This match has me as nervous as any other match this year," he said.

An almost unheard of weekday match at noon also could also unnerve a team dealing with opponents that can have an underdog mentality. Even with a possible distraction, however, Potoczny sees a positive in the strange scheduling. The added rest time from an early Sunday practice and playing at home should have the Lions rested up and ready to come out strong.

Once again to come out quick and win the doubles point will be key in what could be another down-to-the-wire contest.

"We're going to come out really quick and take it to them, they're a team with a lot of great players that can really challenge us -- we have top be ready for their best shot," junior Brad Hunter said. "We need to hit a lot of first serves and a lot of returns in play to make them hit a lot of shots."

With strong doubles play, the Lions could be well on their way to a winning conference record and a step closer to the NCAA tournament.

"We're really excited to be ranked as high as we are, but there's still a lot of work to be done," Hunter said. "We have a long way to go, we still have eight Big Ten matches."