Ryan Berger grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan Ã~ just an hour outside of East Lansing.

When the No. 37 Penn State men's tennis team travels to Michigan State at noon on Saturday, it will be Berger's last match in his home state. He hopes that his last trip to Michigan will be a memorable one, as the Nittany Lions will take on the Spartans on Saturday at noon.

"Ryan will be excited. Any of these guys who get to play in their home state, I think they're excited," Penn State head coach Todd Doebler said. "I would expect Ryan's parents -- they've been great supporters this year and showing up at a lot of matches as well as other parents, but I would expect Ryan to have a few extra people there -- a few relatives, friends, being that it's not far from where he grew up.

"Anytime you're playing a team that you grew up in that state, I'm sure he'll be excited to compete."

The Spartans are sandwiched between No. 9 Illinois, who the Lions lost to last Sunday, 5-2, and No. 3 Ohio State, which will come to Penn State next Friday.

"This is a huge match for us, especially in the Big Ten, every match is a big and important match," Berger said. "[We've] got to make sure we go and take care of business on Saturday because we definitely don't want to have a letdown and have back to back losses."

Michigan State was ranked in early February but is 1-6 in Big Ten play Ã~ the team just won its first conference match against Iowa last Saturday Ã~ and 1-11 against ranked teams. Despite the record, Berger believes that Michigan State will present a challenge because of the Spartans' grit and fan support.

Focusing only on Michigan State shouldn't be too much of a problem, as it will be the only match Penn State plays this weekend.

"It'll be good for us, since we're traveling, we've got a good long drive there so we'll get to play one match and get the boys home and rest them," Doebler said.

Doebler also said that confidence earned from the Illinois match will benefit as long as the team stays consistent.

"The key to what we've been doing is we've been putting it on the line and competing as an entire team from start of the match to the finish," Doebler said. "That'll be real important because going on the road every match is tough in the Big Ten is tough, and we're going to need to come out, ready to play."