STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; April 24, 2000 -- The Penn State Lady Lion Tennis team heads to Ann Arbor, Mich. on Thursday, April 27th for the Big Ten Championships. The Lady Lions will take on the Boilermakers of Purdue in the first round at 10 a.m.

Purdue is ranked 55th in the nation and is seeded seventh in the tournament. Penn State will arrive at Michigan with an 8-9 overall record, 1-9 in the Big Ten and will be seeded 10th in the tournament and 63rd in the nation. The winner of the Penn State/Purdue match will take on No. 2 seed Illinois in the second round on Friday.

Penn State fell to Purdue in the Lady Lions' final home match of the season, 5-2, on April 16. Despite the loss, four Lions had outstanding performances at the Sarni Tennis Center. Senior Martina Kopacova (Vratislavice, Czech Rep.) and sophomore Rebecca Ho (Ontario, Canada) sealed an 8-6 victory over Purdue's Lisa Walgenbach and Lynsey Fick. Freshman Judy Wang (Eagan, Minn.) not only grabbed Penn State's only singles match win for the day, she paired with junior Teresa Whiteside (Silver Spring, Md.) to notch another victory in doubles action, 8-3.

Coach Buffy Baker's Lions are coming off their first Big Ten victory of the season after defeating Michigan State on the road 7-0 Sunday. Penn State took all six of the singles matches and the three doubles matches.