After facing two nonconference teams this weekend, the Penn State women's tennis team (3-4) finished with two victories against Syracuse and West Virginia.

The Nittany Lions came back to their home turf after three weeks of being on the ride. Both of their matches against Syracuse and West Virginia ended in 6-1 victories and showed 6-0 performances in doubles.

"We had a clean sweep in doubles, and we are going in the right direction," said coach Buffy Baker. "We were maintaining momentum and had better execution."

Against Syracuse, seniors Sasha Abraham and Andreea Niculescu had an 8-4 win over Olga Votavova and Maria Vasilyeva. Sophomore Lauren Holzberg and freshman Sarah Lotto defeated Catherine Zawadzki and Carolina Huignard (8-5), and sophomore Dorothy Dohanics and freshman Lauren McCarthy got the final victory in doubles against Chelsea Jones and Anne Magellan (8-3).

The Nittany Lions also came out winning five of six singles matches.

Abraham won both sets against Vasilyeva (7-5, 7-5). Dohanics ruled the court with a 6-0, 6-0 win over, and McCarthy defeated Jones, 6-1, 7-5.

Lotto crushed Magellan in a pair of 6-1 sets and Holzberg won over a tough victory against Zawadzki (6-4, 2-6, 6-4).

Although Baker was disappointed that junior Jenny Shular was unable to compete against Syracuse, she thought the team did a great job without her.

"We were competing and winning without her and that shows that we know the depth that we have," she said.

Against West Virginia, Niculescu beat Natalia Prinz (4-6, 6-1, 6-0), while Abraham won with a pair of 6-4 sets against Stacey Percival. Dohanics defeated Stephanie LaFortune (7-5, 7-6 (6)) and Lauren McCarthy crushed Kelly Walsh (6-1, 6-0). Sarah Lotto defeated Ashley Constantine (6-1, 6-4). West Virginia had one victory where Monica Lyskawa knocked off Lauren Holzberg (6-0, 6-3).

In doubles, Abraham and Holzberg won against Prinz/Percival, 8-2. After being absent from the Syracuse match, Jenny Shular competed in doubles with Lotto and was victorious against Walsh/Lyskawa (8-2) Dohanics and McCarthy finished off against Gabriela Blaskovicova/LaFortune (8-5).

After coming off a 4-3 loss against Princeton, the team thought the loss was a good motivation to work hard this weekend.

"We are competing at a higher level," said Baker. "We can crank it up at practice and the practice level can get higher. It can improve."