TOWSON, Md. - The Towson University women's tennis team opens the spring portion of its 2017-18 schedule with two matches this weekend. The Tigers travel to Penn State on Friday before returning home to host Mount St. Mary's at Baltimore Fitness & Tennis on Saturday.

Towson faces the Nittany Lions inside the Indoor Tennis Center on the University Park campus beginning at 5:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the Tigers will host the Mountaineers in their home opener where they will honor Sol Schwartz, a Baltimore native and former men's and women's tennis coach and student-athlete at UMBC who passed away in March 2016 at the age of 46.

Schwartz formed an online petition to save faltering tennis programs around the country called #SaveCollegeTennis. In his honor, donations for ParentingAces will be accepted at the match.

"We will be honoring the late Sol Schwartz with Ilene Legum Schwartz for his life dedicated to tennis and in particular passion for #SaveCollegeTennis," said head coach Jamie Peterson. "In his short time with us, he was an undisputed champion of kindness, humanitarianism and of tennis"

As for the upcoming season, Peterson is excited about his team;s potential. In 2017, Towson was ranked in the top 100 for the first time in program history and picked up its first top-100 victory, 5-2, over No. 59 College of Charleston at home on March 25, 2017. The team also posted a 4-3 victory over the University of Buffalo on March 4, 2017, marking the Tigers' first win over a team who advanced to the NCAA tournament.

"This season, the team has improved its talent and depth by having three new players on the roster after only one senior graduated," said Peterson. "The team has really good leadership and experience with five seniors on the squad. We are looking to improve our performance in the conference tournament and overall record and wins from last year."

In the fall, senior Nicole Shakhnazarova and the doubles team of seniors A.J. Gomer and Renate van Oorschodt each won their opening round match at the ITA Atlantic Regional Championships hosted by Virginia Tech. It marked the second time in the last four years that the Tigers have had an individual and a doubles team advance past the first round.

In 2014, senior Lucy Williams advanced to the second round of the main draw singles bracket while she and Shakhnazarova advanced to the second round in doubles.

"The team is very capable of doing this if they can consistently work hard in practice, maintain emotional control, play smart and have a positive attitude," added Peterson. "In addition to Shakhnazarova at No. 1 singles and Gomer and Van Oorschodt at No. 1 doubles, watch out for freshman Alexa Martinez."