Home sweet home. For the first time this season, the Penn State women's tennis team can finally say that. This weekend the Nittany Lions will serve as host to the Penn State Mock Duals, the first home event of the 2006 season. The event will begin today at 5, and resume again tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The Lions host the matchup after coming off of a bye week, during which head coach Buffy Baker and her squad prepared for the singles and doubles matches.

"It's nice to be at home this weekend," she said. "I think it's a nice way to wind down the fall season, and they have worked really hard since September."

Penn State will face off against Cornell, who will bring seven members of the team to compete this weekend. Big Red head coach Lauren Glitz will send some of her best for the duals, including seniors Kasia Preneta and Nina Suda, junior Weatherly Schwab, sophomores Catherine Duboc, Shayna Miller, Tamara John and Elizabeth Googe.

The bye week provided a chance for the Lions to recover from a long road trip and focus on other things, while preparing for their first match at home.

"There are some people recovering from being on the road," she said. "People needed to work on their school work, and get some rest too."

The week before last, the Lions came off of an impressive showing at the ITA Regional Tournament at Dartmouth College. During that event, impressive play was common from all of the Lions, especially from sophomore Lauren Holzberg, and senior Sasha Abraham, both of whom advanced far into the rounds of singles play.

What makes this event important is that this will be the last event for the team before they pack it up until the spring. Baker wants to make sure that her girls end their fall tournaments on a good note, and look toward a successful spring.

"This is very important to us," she said. "I think we need to try our best, and make sure we go out on a high note, and then look forward to our next match, no matter how long away that may be."

The Lions' first spring match up is a Jan. 19 date against Florida State. But for now, the team is looking toward this weekend, and making their last fall tournament one to build off of for the upcoming spring schedule.

The tournament will be held in the Sarni Tennis Center and admission is free.