W. tennis travels to Penn St.; m. tennis hosts BC, St. Joseph's

The women's tennis team, coming off last weekend's split against Virginia and Seton Hall, is hoping to improve its record this weekend as it takes on two tough teams in Penn State (2-4) and Marshall (2-2).

Penn St., who also split last weekend's matches, will have the home court advantage as the Tigers (1-1) travel to State College, Pa. for the Sunday match. Before the Tigers tangle with the Nittany Lions, however, Princeton takes on Marshall on Saturday in a neutral-site match.

Marshall should be a challenging competitor for the Tigers, as the Thundering Herd head into the contest having swept both its matches last weekend. Marshall topped Southern Methodist University and crushed Louisville, 7-0. For its efforst, the Thundering Herd is now ranked No. 72 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national poll.

Marshall boasts a strong singles lineup led by senior Jessica Johnson, who is ranked No. 62 in the nation. Johnson also teams up with junior Ashley Kroh to form the No. 14 doubles team in the nation.

Princeton counters at No. 1 singles with freshman Darcy Robertson. Robertson is 1-1 in singles matches this season, having lost her Virginia match and won her Seton Hall contest easily. The freshman also combines with senior Vanti Bhargava for the No. 1 doubles team.

Up next for Princeton is the home team, Penn St. The Nittany Lions have four losses on the season, but three of these have been to ranked teams including No. 45 Penn, No. 58 Wake Forest and No. 64 Yale.

"We have played these two tough teams in the past, and it's always been close," senior Mateya McCoy said. "We beat them a couple of years ago, so we are coming in with confidence for this weekend."

McCoy did not downplay the difficulty of the weekend, however.

"We know this weekend will be tough," McCoy said. "But we are looking strong and most of the team is fairly healthy. We are excited for the return of sophomore Alison Hashmall, who has been recovering from a past knee injury. She should really help us."

The Princeton men (0-2) are looking to recover from last weekend's slip in which they dropped both of their matches, to Clemson and Army. They should be in good shape for this weekend, hosting Boston College (2-3) and St. Joseph's (2-1).

BC comes off the weekend having recently dropped two matches, to George Washington and Dartmouth. The Eagles are led by senior captain Justin Slattery, who was involved in both of BC's two wins against Dartmouth. Slattery won in three sets at No. 1 singles before teaming with junior teammate Chris McCoy to win at No. 1 doubles.

St. Joseph's also faced some tough competition last weekend, dropping its match to Navy, 6-1.

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The Tigers are still battling injuries, as both junior No. 1 singles Josh Burman and senior No. 2 singles Dan Friedman are not at 100 percent. Burman's injury will keep him from playing this weekend. Sophomore Darius Craton slid into the No. 1 singles spot with style last weekend, taking down Clemson's Nathan Thompson.

Princeton is confident about its chances this weekend.

"I think that everybody is going to come outwith a lot of energy and intensity for our first home matches of the season," junior David Gop-stein said.