Feb. 15, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team will continue its 2013 slate with a trip to third-ranked Michigan on Saturday afternoon. Action will begin at 4 p.m. ET from Cliff Keen Arena. Live scoring of the meet will be available via a link on GoPSUsports.com. You can also receive complete updates via the Penn State women's gymnastics twitter account, @PennStateWGYM.
"Last year we nipped Michigan at home, so I'm sure they will want to return the favor this year," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "This year it will be held in Cliff Keen Arena, which is a smaller venue and should make things comfy and cozy for them as the home team. We will have to get inside our Blue and White bubble and focus on our team this week."
Penn State posted season-high scores on the vault and floor exercise in last Sunday's dual meet at No. 9 Nebraska, where the Cornhuskers outscored the Nittany Lions 197.175-195.150. Penn State entered its last event, the balance beam, with scores of 48.975 or higher in its first three events, but struggled on the beam and posted a 47.800.
"Both days of practice we ended on the beam intersquad, where all the routines had to be hit and the pressure was on," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "They had to hit seven routines before they were done, and they all did the first time. We have learned and grown on that. We expect to finish strong this weekend on beam at Michigan."
Penn State's best event of the day at Nebraska was the vault, where the team posted a season-high of 49.225, beating the previous high of 49.100 at Denver last month. Senior Madison Merriam (Gaithersburg, Md.) led the way for Penn State on the vault, matching her season-high of 9.900.
Penn State currently is ranked 10th nationally on uneven bars (48.946) and 18th on vault (49.017). Senior Sharaya Musser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is ranked 28th on the vault (9.867) and 17th on bars (9.850).The third-ranked Wolverines are in the national top 10 in all four events this season.
Michigan holds a 37-8 all-time record against Penn State and is 9-4 in its last 13 meetings with the Nittany Lions. The two teams split last season, with Michigan finishing ahead of the Nittany Lions at the Big Ten Championships. However, the Nittany Lions won the regular-season meeting (196.000-195.900) on March 2, 2012.
The Lions return to Rec Hall on Feb. 23 for a double dual with the Michigan State Spartans.
For complete coverage of Penn State women's gymnastics, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-gym.
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