"Maybe the guys were too focused [on Minnesota] -- we're not playing our best tennis," Potoczny said. "Maybe we shouldn't worry about [making the NCAAs], so many things have to happen right now that it's out of our hands. The bottom line is we can't worry about it right now."

After dropping Friday's match to the Gophers, a road match against a higher-ranked team, the Lions could have come away with a split against Iowa -- a team winless in the conference.

An unexpected loss to a team at the bottom of the conference could point to the team being unable to rebound from a tough loss.

"[A letdown] was possible, it definitely wasn't our best day," Potoczny said. "The guys put all their focus into the Minnesota match, and they should have, but you have to get ready for every match and that's my job as a coach.

"When you have multiple guys not ready, there's something wrong."

After a fourth-straight contest without winning a doubles point, the Lions were unable to recover with their singles play.

Senior co-captain Malcolm Scatliffe was scratched from the lineup at No. 2 singles after the doubles, causing the rest of the Lions to slide up one spot. That allowed freshman Adam Slagter to pick up a victory at No. 4 singles, defeating Chaitu Malempati 7-6, 6-3.

Junior Brad Hunter, a last-minute addition to the lineup at No. 6 singles, was able to pick up a 7-6, 7-6 win against Greg Holm. Hunter, teaming with Ryan Berger at No. 2 doubles, also went 2-0, picking up the only doubles wins for Penn State.

"Brad did a great job, he had a great weekend -- he's just a heck of competitor," Potoczny said.

The Lions also got a pair of gutsy wins on Friday from Berger and freshman Brendan Lynch, at Nos. 3 and 6 singles, respectively. Berger took down nationally ranked Nic Edlefsen, 7-6, 6-3.

Lynch was able to hang on to defeat Sion Wilkins in three sets, winning 7-6, 2-6, 7-6.

Both of Penn State's victories in singles came after the match was in hand for the Gophers.

"Those guys really fought the whole match from start to finish," Potoczny said.

"Both of them showed a little more emotion than usual out there. These are guys who play with positive emotion but even when they are struggling to do that, they did a nice job finishing off their matches -- they fought to the last point."