Entering Big Ten play, the No. 51 Penn State men's tennis team had yet to have an outcome decided by one match.

On Friday, the Nittany Lions (7-1. 1-1 Big Ten) needed junior James Dwyer to pull out a win at No. 6 singles against No. 38 Northwestern, 4-3 at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill.

Yesterday, the Lions lost 4-3 to No. 50 Wisconsin at the Neilsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. What has been a strength for the Lions all season -- the doubles point -- was not won by the Lions. That was the first match during the spring where the Lions failed to get the doubles point.

"We had a lot of opportunities to win the doubles point, but we didn't close," head coach Todd Doebler said.

Penn State lost all three doubles matches against the Badgers. The No. 23-ranked team of junior Michael James and sophomore Adam Slagter lost for the first time this spring, 9-8, against Wisconsin's Nolan Polley and Moritz Baumann.

Senior Bradley Hunter played for the first time this season after sitting out the first six matches with mononucleosis. Paired with fellow senior Ryan Berger in the No. 2 doubles, the duo lost to Northwestern's Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn, 8-5 on Wednesday. Yesterday, they were also defeated 9-8, by the Badgers Michael Dierberger and Michael Muskievicz. Hunter did not play singles in either of the weekend matches.

Junior Chris Sherman and freshman Guillaume St-Maurice also lost their doubles match.

Berger, James and freshman Guillaume St-Maurice all won their singles matches against Wisconsin.

"In singles, we worked really hard," Doebler said.

After the Wildcats' Juan Gomez defeated St-Maurice 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, the overall match was tied at three. Dwyer was able to take down Alex Sanborn in the third set, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, giving Penn State its first Big Ten win of the season.

Doebler was impressed with the way that Dwyer closed the match out.

"A great win for the guys. Through-and-through, the guys worked hard," he said.

In the doubles matches James and Slagter, the last doubles match to finish, beat Northwestern's No. 27-ranked team of Matt Christian and Willy Lock, 9-8, giving Penn State the doubles point, which proved to be critical.

"Anytime you can go on the road and come from behind to win a match, that shows a great effort," Doebler said.

Penn State will play Bucknell 6:30 Thursday evening at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. Then the team will not play a match until a March 4 home match against Virginia Tech.