After beginning their collegiate tennis careers this season with six non-conference opponents at home, the freshmen on the Penn State men's tennis team will get their first taste of Big Ten dual meets on the road this weekend.

Facing two conference opponents in three days, the No. 51 Nittany Lions will head to Evanston, Ill., to take on No. 38 Northwestern at 5 p.m. today and close out the weekend at No. 50 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Led by their No 1. doubles team of sophomore Andy Slagter and junior Michael James, the Lions and head coach Todd Doebler are ready for conference play to begin, and have labeled this weekend's matches as the ones to win.

"This was the weekend the team was really looking forward to," Doebler said. "These matches have created a lot of energy on the team, and they are very focused coming into this weekend."

Slagter and James have reason to be excited, being the No. 23 ranked duo in the ITA National Doubles Poll and riding a six-match winning streak. They are also 11-1 in dual matches on the season.

Senior Ryan Berger has gotten off to a great start to his final season with the Lions, posting a 5-0 record in dual meets, and a 12-4 record overall.

One of the biggest surprises on the year has been the play of freshman Guillaume St.-Maurice, who has opened his rookie season at 6-0. St.-Maurice's impressive record is one reason Doebler isn't worried for his freshmen this weekend, and he knows that they will meet this challenge as they have met every other one thus far.

"I think that they'll do a great job under pressure," he said. "They play every match very competitively and very well. You never know what to expect, but I'm confident in them."

The Lions are coming off of their longest weekend of the season, where they served as host for three matches in two days. St. Bonaventure, Bloomsburg and St. John's all traveled to State College last weekend, and all left in defeat as the Lions moved to a perfect 6-0 on the season.

Doebler admitted that the current team record isn't really on his or the team's minds. The only thing he is worried about is starting conference play off with the same energy as the team has started the season, on the way to one of the its goals -- winning a conference title.