For the first time in coach Jim Laitta’s memory, the Terrapin men’s tennis team will be taking on area rival Penn State.

The match, scheduled for Sunday, will be the second of the weekend and the last of a seven-match home stand for the Terps. Before taking on the Nittany Lions, the Terps will be pitted against Delaware on Saturday.

Despite the schools’ proximity, roughly a three-hour drive, the Terps have not faced Penn State for as long as Laitta can remember. Laitta is hoping to create an annual matchup against the two teams.

“They are a team that has been in the NCAAs the past few years and usually finish in the top 50,” Laitta said. “We don’t know a whole lot about them, and they don’t know a whole lot about us.”

Laitta said the teams will play the next two seasons and hopefully continue the trend to form a pivotal Big Ten/ACC matchup.

The Nittany Lions (5-4) will enter Sunday’s match looking similar on paper to the hosting Terps. All four of Penn State’s losses come against top-50 teams, including three ACC foes: N.C. State, Duke and Virginia Tech. Penn State beat Purdue last weekend, 4-3, a team that the Terps lost to earlier in the season.

Penn State had a three-match win streak before falling to No. 3 Ohio State yesterday.

The No. 74 Terps (5-4) must get by their first test of the weekend, Delaware, if they want a shot at beating Penn State. The Terps have flexed their recent dominance over the Blue Hens by winning 7-0 in the past three matches.

Delaware will be playing its first match of the spring season and will be on the courts officially for the first time since October. In the fall season, the Blue Hens were 2-0 and took down St. Joseph’s and Villanova.

Both matches will be vital to the Terps as they head into the toughest part of their schedule. After Sunday, they will face ACC opponents the rest of the way. The two matches also mark the end of a long home stand for the Terps that has so far produced a 3-2 record.

“We will need our singles, one through six, to come and play hard if we are going to win,” Laitta said. “If we can win both this weekend, it will give us a lot of confidence heading into conference play.”

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