When Brendan Lynch arrived to State College in 2005, he was committing to a Penn State men's tennis team that had not made the NCAA tournament in its previous seven seasons.
However, Lynch believed that he could help the rising program, which has now made the NCAA tournament in all three years at Happy Valley.
"One of the reasons I came here was, just from my observation on the outside, the program was on the rise and some of the changes that have happened and stuff have pushed the program along," the junior said. "We've also been lucky with players developing and just people doing well."
Lynch was joined in the 2005 recruiting class by Adam Slagter, another integral piece of the Nittany Lions' three-year run of NCAA tournament appearances.
The impact of Lynch and Slagter was immediately felt, as the two combined for 48 singles wins during their 2005-2006 freshman campaigns, leading the team to its first NCAA tournament berth since 1998.
Now, the No. 39 Lions are preparing for next Saturday, when they will travel to Charlottesville, Va., to take on No. 27 Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the tournament.
"Just the program is going in the right direction, obviously," Slagter said.
"It's just a process to get better and that's what we focus on at practice every day, is getting better one day to the next."
No. 60 singles player Michael James, who came to Penn State a year before Lynch and Slagter, was also intrigued by the possibility of helping build a top tennis program.
And while the Lions failed to make the tournament in James' first year, he said there were still signs of progress that came to light before Lynch and Slagter's arrival.
"We didn't graduate anybody, so we knew our sophomore year we were gonna get better with the addition of Slag and Lynch," James said. "Each year we've continued to improve, so, hopefully even after I leave, these guys will continue to make the tournament and start making a huge impact in the tournament."
The Lions hope they can make that impact next weekend, when they will be taking on a VCU team they are unfamiliar with. The Rams have played only two Big Ten teams and boast no ranked players, but have beaten nine ranked teams en route to their 11th Colonial Athletic Association title in the last 13 years.
Despite the limited knowledge of its opponent, Penn State knows it is facing a difficult task, as this group of Lions will look to escape the first round of the tournament for the first time.
They won't let anything stop them. Not even James, who won't let the comfort of playing in his home state deter him, not even with his entire family in attendance for his final tournament.
"It's a nice feeling; it's not the most important thing," James said of playing in front of his whole family. "I'm just looking forward to playing VCU because I think they're a good team, but I think we definitely have a shot at beating them. It should be fun."
