All week the No. 52 Penn State men's tennis praised Cornell. It was the Nittany Lions' biggest test of their young season, but they passed that test with extraordinary grades.

The Lions (3-0) beat the Big Red, 6-1, at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center on Saturday.

Earlier this week, sophomore Adam Slagter said, "If we have the doubles point, it'll be key, with the momentum."

He was right. In what proved to be a jump-start for the team, the Lions won the doubles point. The No. 23 duo of junior Michael James and Slagter beat Cornell's No. 41 doubles team of Nick Brunner and Josh Raff, 8-6. James and Slagter improved their spring record to 3-0.

The Big Red's other nationally ranked (No. 44) doubles team of Tongle Yu and Jonathon Fife did not play. Instead, Dan Brous and Rory Heggie beat the Penn State team of senior co-captain Ryan Berger and freshman Ryan Gormley, 8-5.

Penn State was able to win the doubles point after the team of junior James Dwyer and freshman Gillaume St-Maurice defeated Cornell's Kyle Doppelt and Joshua Goldstein, 8-4.

"It not only gave a lot of momentum and confidence, but at the same time I think it dampened [Cornell's] spirits a little bit," head coach Todd Doebler said.

The doubles point led to an onslaught of singles wins for Penn State.

James (3-0), playing in the No. 1 spot, struggled in the first set against Cornell's Brunner, losing that set, 6-4. However, James quickly rebounded, winning the second set, 6-1, then winning the third set, 7-5.

Slagter (2-0) beat Brous in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Berger and Gormley, both 3-0 in singles, were the only doubles team to lose their match but also were the only Penn State singles players to win their matches in straight sets.

Berger easily defeated Raff in the first set, 6-2, but the second set for Berger was a battle. Raff dominated the early part of the set, taking a 4-1 lead. After a disputed call resulting in a penalty issued to Cornell, Berger came back to defeat Raff in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (8-6).

"I was trying not to get frustrated because I had many opportunities and I just didn't capitalize on them. That's how I went down, 4-1," Berger said. "In a good close set like that, you learn some things Ã~ good things, bad things, what you want to do in a pressure situation."

Gormley took down Cornell's Doppelt, 6-3 and 6-2. After the first four singles matches Penn State had already won the overall match.

After the match had already been decided, St-Maurice (3-0) defeated Goldstein, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 (10-8). The only loss the Lions had all day was Dwyer's loss to the Big Red's Jonathan Fife in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Penn State will play three matches this weekend at the PSU Indoor Tennis Center. On Saturday they take on St. Bonaventure at 10 a.m. and Doebler's alma mater, Bloomsburg, at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Lions also have another 10 a.m. match against St. John's.