UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State men's tennis team begins its Big Ten-only schedule with two road matches this weekend. The Nittany Lions (0-0, 0-0 B1G) square off against No. 6 Illinois (3-1, 1-0 B1G) on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. ET and No. 25 Northwestern (1-1, 0-0 B1G) on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11:30 a.m. ET.
"It's been a long time but it's finally here," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "We are ready to play and excited to play. Our new players have never experienced Big Ten play before and they get to start it against the No. 6 team in the country. We then head to Northwestern, the 25th-ranked team in the country. This will be a great weekend to evaluate where we are and where we need to be."
FOLLOW ALONG
Illinois: Live stats
Northwestern: Live stats
INSIDE THE FIGHTING ILLINI
Illinois defeated Wisconsin 6-1 in its Big Ten opener. The Fighting Illini hosted the ITA Indoor Championships this past weekend, upsetting No. 1 seed USC in the first round 4-1. Illinois fell to No. 4 seed Baylor in the semifinals but battled back to beat Virginia in the final match of the ITA Indoor Championships.
The Fighting Illini return three All-Big Ten honorees from last season in Alex Brown, Aleks Kovacevic (2020 ITA Midwest Regional Senior Player of the Year) and Siphosothando Montsi. All three players were ranked No. 16, No. 35 and No. 82 respectively in the ITA preseason singles rankings.
Illinois has won its last five matches against Penn State, with the last Nittany Lion win coming at home in 2016.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
In the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Chapel Hill, Northwestern fell to No. 2 North Carolina, but secured its first win of the season against No. 23 Duke. Northwestern hosts No. 9 Ohio State on Feb. 19 before the Nittany Lions come to town on Sunday.
The Wildcats' lineup features No. 58 singles player Dominik Stary and ranked doubles duo in No. 57 Simen Brathlom and Nick Brookes.
When the two programs last met during the 2018-19 season, Christian Lakoseljac and Christos Antonopoulos clinched the doubles point for the Nittany Lions. Penn State won on the road, 4-2.
The Nittany Lions look to win their third straight match against the Wildcats. Northwestern is 22-8 all-time against Penn State.
UP NEXT
Penn State continues its three-match road trip and travels to Columbus, Ohio to face Ohio State on Feb. 27.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team during the season. Follow the team on Twitter @pennstateMTEN, Instagram @pennstatemtennis and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstatemenstennis.