Despite missing two key players in sophomore Brendan Lynch and senior co-captain Bradley Hunter, the No. 50 Penn State men's tennis team still managed to enter the Big Ten season undefeated.

The Lions improved their spring record to 6-0 as they beat St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg this weekend, winning both matches by a score of 7-0 on Saturday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. Yesterday, Penn State received a bit more of a challenge from St. John's, but the Red Storm was easily beat, 6-1.

Lynch has been out with a collarbone injury and Hunter is still recovering from mononucleosis. Penn State head coach Todd Doebler said that he doesn't know when the two will return to the lineup.

For Doebler, the Bloomsburg match was a special one, as the 1996 graduate of Bloomsburg has known the Huskies head coach, Marty Coyne, since he was 13 years old. Coyne was proud of his friend and former pupil's accomplishments.

"Having the opportunity to play against him and Penn State is a privilege and an honor for us. We love it," Coyne said. "We look forward to this match every year. We get banged around pretty good, but it makes us a little more humble and gets us ready for our Division II season. And now having a former player from Bloomsburg as the coach, it doesn't get any better than this. We love it."

The Huskies competed with only five healthy players and forfeited the third doubles match and the sixth singles match. While resting many of their starters, the Nittany Lions still easily defeated the Bloomsburg players that were in the lineup.

Penn State freshmen Guillaume St-Maurice and Ryan Gormley played in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively in singles. St-Maurice defeated the Huskies Dan Gal, 6-1, 6-2 while Gormley shut out Ryan Glubo. Little used freshman David Bortner also played and won against Geoff Whitley, 6-0 and 6-0.

"You got to come out and play no matter who you're playing against," Slagter said. "If you're playing against someone that you're a little better than, it's a chance for you to try different things and work on closing matches. Instead of just getting a win, we found a way to get the win and work on some things. That's how you get better."

In the earlier match Saturday, the Lions had a field day with St. Bonaventure, winning all three doubles matches and senior co-captain Ryan Berger was the only player not to win his match in straight sets. Berger knocked off the Bonnies Alejandro Nery, 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8), playing out the third set as a tiebreaker.

Yesterday, the Red Storm kept up with the Lions better, but could not get a victory. In a surprise at No. 1 singles, junior Michael James was defeated in the third set by St. John's Louis Desmarteux, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

James was visibly frustrated with his performance, even getting penalized for what the official called "racket abuse."

It was the second time James was reprimanded during his match.

The first was after James hit his racket against the blue tarp, St. John's coach Eric Rebhuhn stormed across court ordering the official to give James a warning.