The Penn State women's tennis team is ready for an intense battle against its first Big Ten opponent of the season, No. 6 Northwestern.

The Nittany Lions will play host to the Wildcats at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.

Although the Nittany Lions suffered a 6-1 loss against Northwestern last season, they are hoping to step it up and show their ability, coming off two back-to-back victories against Syracuse and West Virginia.

Sophomore Dorothy Dohanics posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Carolina Huignard of Syracuse, while freshman Sarah Lotto beat Anne Magellan in a pair of 6-1 sets.

The Lions swept doubles against both teams, and are hoping to keep the same momentum against Northwestern.

"We beat two decent teams last week, and it was a good test for us without having Jenny Shular," said Penn State head coach Buffy Baker.

Baker said she is looking forward to competing against a highly ranked team and sees what the best has to offer the Lions.

Northwestern, who is traveling to Michigan today, has been looking fierce by coming off of a 7-0 victory against Baylor and a 4-3 loss against No. 7 North Carolina.

Northwestern will give the Lions a great singles challenge, as the Wildcats' Georgia Rose recently extended her winning streak over top-50 singles players to four.

Rose is 7-1, including last weekend's straight-sets victory.

Although the Lions have only one match this weekend, they see it as a physical and mental break from two matches each weekend.

"We will become well rested and be back on track," Baker said. "Northwestern is our highest ranked team we have played."

With the two wins last weekend, Penn State is looking to maintain the same consistency.

As the week progressed, the Lions made their practices tougher with certain routines, but for the last two days before the match, the team plans to taper off.