UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 35 Penn State men's tennis will finish out its four-match road stretch against No. 14 Illinois (13-6, 6-1 B1G) on Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. and Northwestern (13-10, 4-3 B1G) on Sunday, April 14 at 1 p.m.
"We have come to our last road trip of the season before the postseason starts and it is a 'B1G' one," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "Everything is on the line and we need to play our best tennis at this time of the year. Hopefully, we have prepared ourselves for this and we are ready to give it our best shot."
FOLLOW ALONG
Illinois live stats and live stream
Northwestern live stats
Northwestern live stream
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State traveled to then-No. 48 Iowa and Nebraska last weekend in the first two contests of their four-match road stretch.
The Nittany Lions split the weekend with a loss to the Hawkeyes, 3-4, and win against the Cornhuskers, 4-3.
Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) dominated in singles with two straight-set wins. Lieb now owns a 12-4 overall record and is 5-0 in the Big Ten. He has won his last six contests and has won seven of his last 10 matches.
SCOUTING THE ILLINI
Penn State will travel to Urbana, Ill. to the Atkins Tennis Center to take on Illinois.
The Fighting Illini are on a six-match win streak, coming off victories against then-No. 20 Michigan and Michigan State. The Illini's six losses have only come against top-20 ranked teams.
The team features two ranked singles players in No. 6 Aleksandar Kovacevic and No. 48 Alex Brown. Kovacevic boasts an impressive resume with a 14-0 overall record, 7-0 record over ranked opponents and 5-0 record in conference.
The Illini's roster also contains one ranked doubles pair in No. 41 Caleb Chakravarthi/Alex Brown. The duo is 4-6 at the No. 1 doubles spot, 1-1 against ranked opponents and 1-0 in the Big Ten.
Penn State owns a 5-31 all-time record against Illinois. The two teams last met in the 2018 Big Ten tournament when the then-No. 8 Illini earned the 4-0 shutout win to end the Nittany Lions run in the tournament.
TAMING THE WILDCATS
The Nittany Lions will then travel to Evanston, Ill. to take on Northwestern in the Combe Tennis Center. The team is 9-2 at home this season.
The Wildcats is coming off a split weekend, with a loss to then-No. 20 Michigan and a win against Michigan State.
The team's roster features a lone ranked doubles pair in No. 27 Simen Bratholm/Nick Brookes.
Penn State has a 7-22 all-time record against Northwestern. The most recent between the two teams was last season with the Nittany Lions emerged with the 6-1 'W'.
NEXT UP
Penn State will hit the road to face No. 15 Illinois and Northwestern to complete its four-match road stretch.
Keep up with the Penn State men's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to `like' our Facebook page at Penn State Men's Tennis and follow our twitter @pennstateMTEN.