One match at a time; that's been the goal for the Penn State men's tennis team all season long. This weekend that mindset will be the main focus for the No. 34 Nittany Lions, as they will serve as host for two matches. Penn State (14-2, 4-1 Big Ten) will face Purdue at 3 p.m. today and No. 8 Illinois at noon on Sunday.

This weekend's matchups will continue Penn State's stretch of conference play, where the Lions are off to a hot start. Last weekend, they captured two wins, defeating Iowa, 7-0, and upsetting then-No. 29 Minnesota in Minneapolis, 5-2. The win against the Golden Gophers gave the Lions their sixth win in a row.

Senior Ryan Berger, who has contributed to much of the Lions' success this season, believes that his team must continue to follow the season "creed" and not worry about past matches or ones to come.

"It's extremely important to focus on one match at a time," Berger said. "I think when players look ahead past teams that might not be as strong, that's when they get beat. Every team in the Big Ten is good, and anybody can beat anyone else on any given day."

Berger is attempting to make his final season with Penn State a memorable one, and with just a few matches left until the Big Ten tournament, it is clear that he is striving to go out on top, and hopefully lead his team to a conference championship.

On the season, Berger boasts an 18-8 record, including jumping out to a 4-1 start in doubles play with new partner, junior Michael James.

"So far, MJ and I have been working out," Berger said.

"We complement each other really well, and while I know we have some stuff to work on, I think we are working well together. Our skills definitely showed this past weekend against Minnesota, and we will have to work even harder this weekend to get a win."

While upsetting the Golden Gophers was a good building block for Berger and the Lions, no team in the Big Ten has seen more success over the past five seasons than Illinois. The Illini finished second in both the Big Ten regular season standings and in the conference tournament. From 1997 until 2005, Illinois was the team to beat in the Big Ten, capturing nine consecutive conference titles.

But before the Lions get their chance to defeat the team that swept them twice last season, they will have to take on a pesky Purdue team, whose early struggles have it eager to bounce back with a win this weekend.

This will be the second consecutive weekend that will have the Lions facing two opponents in three days, but Berger says that the extra day in between is crucial to keeping energized.

"The good thing about that extra day is that we are able to leave it all on the court on Friday," Berger said. "Saturday is a good day to rest up. We try to get some extra sleep and rest the body, but make sure that we stayed focused for our match on Sunday."