There's an obvious monkey on the back of the Penn State women's tennis team -- it has yet to win its first away match this season.

The Nittany Lions (7-8, 2-4 Big Ten) will have a chance to change that as they travel to Ohio State for a meeting with the Buckeyes at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Penn State is currently struggling to climb out of a three-game losing streak, which has quickly dropped the Lions under .500. Two of those matches resulted in a sweep, and the past two have been on the opponents' courts.

Playing away matches is obviously a problem that must be solved soon. Six out of the eight losses this season have come from away matchups.

"I don't think it's necessarily away vs. home," Penn State women's tennis coach Buffy Baker said. "It's not a matter of the home courts of these teams, it's just the level of competition. In the matches we haven't been successful in, I don't think we were playing at a consistent level."

Ohio State (12-7, 2-2 Big Ten) will certainly provide a difficult atmosphere for the Lions to break their losing slump. Penn State finished 2-0 last year against the Buckeyes, who are currently boasting a 9-2 record at home.

"If we can keep focusing on earning the right to win points, I think we're going to be fine against Ohio State," Baker said. "I think they're going to come out strong, and gunning for us. But you know what, that's OK. You know where you stand, but you are always going to get better playing against the best."

The Lions will only have two more road matches before the Big Ten Championships hosted by Illinois during the last week of April. Hopefully, the team will gain some confidence with playing outside of its comfort zone before that time comes.

The bottom line is that playing away matches should not be an excuse to why a team is not performing to its full potential, according to junior Sasha Abraham. A tennis court is the same everywhere, and the Lions need to start realizing that when they travel.

"Teams travel," Abraham said. "In the end, it all comes down to how you play on the court. I don't think we can say anything about indoors or outdoors, traveling or not traveling. In the end, one team loses to another, and it's a battle on the court more than anything. The biggest thing for us right now is to put this behind us and look to future matches in a very positive way."

Now is the best time for the Lions to step up their play and prove to themselves and the rest of the Big Ten that they can play anywhere. The best way for that to happen is to keep taking each match one at a time. Confidence will start to build, and, hopefully, a handful of Big Ten wins will soon follow.

"They're just going to keep getting more and more confident, provided they are focusing on those things that are controllable," Baker said.