At 2 Sunday, the men's gymnastics team will find out just how good its chances are at making the NCAA Championships.

The No. 9 Lions will host Illinois-Chicago in their final regular season appearance at Rec Hall. Illinois-Chicago is ranked fifth in the East, just behind the fourth-place Lions. Next month, when Penn State hosts the Eastern regionals, only the top four teams go on to the NCAAs.

Ohio State, Iowa and Minnesota are ranked first, second and third in the East, respectively.

"This meet is even more critical than I expected when I scheduled (it) a year ago," Coach Karl Schier said. "I tend to think we're superior and we should win this meet, but proof is in the pudding."

This meet not only offers an advanced look at regional competition, but a chance for the Lions to boost their scores after a disappointing spring break. Against both Pitt and Houston Baptist, the Lions fell victim to poor judging, Schier said, and scored much lower.

"The judging was bad; it affected us mentally," sophomore Wayne Cowden said. "You go through the meet thinking, 'What the heck? This isn't the way it usually goes.' "

Yet Schier said that the frustration from break actually may have been worth it. He hopes that Sunday the team will rebound to its normal scores.

"I'd like to think we're laying in the weeds a little bit because our scores away from home haven't really been reflective of how we've done," Schier said. "People could call me biased, but I'm supposed to know when I'm the expert and that's what I see. I see a team that's quite good actually, but (is) being under-ranked in terms of score."

Last season, the Lions lost to Illinois-Chicago by .10. While Schier does not believe that the team will be as tough as last year, the two teams do match up quite closely.

Like the Lions, Illinois-Chicago is strongest on pommel horse and rings. They too put up four all-arounders whose scores usually range between 54 and 55. And the team also boasts a strong pommel horse specialist -- Jeff Ashton, who has already recorded a 9.7 this year.

For Penn State's pommel horse specialist, team captain Mark Sohn, this meet will offer an intense rivalry -- with or without Ashton. Sohn is a native of Arlington Heights, Illinois.

"I knew a few of the guys there," Sohn said. "I tied one of them my junior year in high school for the state championship. This Ashton kid I saw in states when I was here at Penn State. I went to see the high schools, and he was pretty good. I haven't gone up against many specialists this year. Hopefully, he'll be some good competition."

This week a number of the team members will be changing their routines to record higher scores. Sohn's routine is the only one solidified for NCAAs, Schier said. Because the regional meet ends up being the most important of the season, Schier intends to work the other routines until they are perfect for that meet.

Since this is the last regular season meet, the team will honor seniors Karl Abraham and Rob Drass. Although Drass has another year of eligibility left, he elected not to use it when he found out he could graduate in December.