With a recent top-40 ranking and coming off its biggest win of the season, the No. 39 Penn State men's tennis team was looking for a 2-1 Big Ten record.

A 6-1 loss to Indiana yesterday will most likely knock the Nittany Lions (11-2, 1-2 Big Ten) back down in the rankings and leave them searching for consistency.

The Lions were lucky enough to be outside at the Sarni Tennis Center. Luck, however, had nothing to do with the loss.

"We had inconsistent practices all week and were inconsistent in match play today," Penn State coach Bill Potoczny said. "When you play inconsistently all week, it's not going to change on match day, especially outdoors on match day."

Potoczny said how playing outside, which could be an advantage for the Lions' style of working long points, served to magnify any mistakes against Indiana (12-6, 1-2).

Once the Hoosiers were able to win a hard-fought doubles point, they took the 1-0 lead and ran with it. Only one Penn State player was able to win his first set.

Although junior Brad Hunter was able to tie the overall match 1-1 by beating Arnaud Roussel 6-1, 6-4, at No. 6 singles, the Hoosiers would take the rest.

Hunter, who had been out of the singles lineup for much of the spring, returned as a bright spot for the Lions, as he also teamed with Ryan Berger to win at the No. 2 doubles spot.

"It was no surprise that Brad took care of business, he's one of the guys that gives everything he can," Potoczny said. "He's a great team guy that makes the team better in practice and on the court, so I'd say I'm proud of what he did, but not surprised."

Berger and Hunter's 8-3 win against Peter Antons and David Bubenicek put the doubles point on the shoulders of Penn State's No. 3 pairing where senior co-captain Malcolm Scatliffe and sophomore James Dwyer had been instrumental in winning doubles points for the Lions at that spot.

Indiana's duo of Neil Kenner and Michael McCarthy were able to force a tiebreaker, however, and went on to defeat Scatliffe and Dwyer in a tough 9-8 match that lasted about one-and-a-half hours.

"It played a part in the loss, our guys fought in doubles, and I can say that with confidence -- it just didn't go our way today," Hunter said. "For our No. 3 team, it all came down to them, and they gave it their all, their team just played really well, it wasn't us playing poorly."

A pair of freshmen for the Lions, Adam Slagter and Brendan Lynch, at No. 4 and 5 singles, respectively, showed they would keep fighting even after the match was in hand.

With the Hoosiers leading 4-1, the match already decided, Slagter and Lynch continued to battle hard, with Slagter taking his opponent to a 7-5 decision in the second set.

Lynch was able to fight back from a 4-1 deficit against McCarthy in his second set to force and win a tiebreaker. However, Lynch fell in a 10-point tiebreaker substituted for a third set, losing the final match of the day 6-4, 7-6, 1-0 (10-4).

"That shows the character of our freshmen, they showed how they'll fight for our team, that they will fight to the end," Hunter said.

For the Lions to get back on track in the Big Ten, they will need a more consistent effort to battle even when things are going against them, Potoczny said.

"One good win won't make a season, and one loss won't break a season, we have to play it all out," he said.