In a bittersweet night for the Penn State women's gymnastics team, a top-five team was upset, a school record was tied and an important team member was lost for the season.

In their second home meet of the season, the No. 13 Lady Lions hosted No. 3 UCLA and New Hampshire Saturday and beat both teams in an emotional competition.

At the start of the meet, everything seemed to be going Penn State's way. The warmer weather brought out more fans than the previous week and the team was flying high after beating Rutgers last Saturday by almost 10 points.

Until the second rotation, the Lions (3-0) looked like the obvious winners of the meet.

Things literally came crashing down in the second rotation. In their performances on the uneven bars, four out of the six Lion competitors fell during their flight elements. Not only did this result in low scores, but senior tri-captain Janae Whittaker was badly hurt during her dismount. Whittaker dislocated the patella and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee. She may also have torn other ligaments, and could miss the rest of the season.

"It's uncharacteristic of this team to have this many falls," said Ellen Casey, a senior Lion tri-captain. "We just had an off night."

The night could have gone downhill for the Lions had they dwelled on their poor bar performance and the devastating loss of Whittaker. Instead, they came back with a vengeance and turned in excellent performances on the balance beam.

"I just told them to get it together," said coach Steve Shephard of his advice to his team after the second rotation. Whittaker also sent a message to the team from the training room: Don't worry about me and pull it together.

The beam team paid attention to the messages and turned the meet around.

Gemma Cuff led off with a solid performance and the rest of the team followed her lead. Senior tri-captain Missy Leopoldus scored a 9.95 for a second week in a row, tying her school record once again.

In the fourth rotation Penn State came away with the three highest scores, which was just enough to push it past UCLA, with a final score of 193.825-193.525. New Hampshire finished third with a score of 190.850. UCLA coach Valorie Kondos was pleased with her team's performance and blames some of the reasoning behind the loss on the travel conditions.

"It was a nightmare getting here," she said. "We want to peak at nationals and it's natural to be tired at this point in the season."

Shephard was very upset about the loss of Whittaker but simply relieved about the victory.

"I'm happy to come away with a 193 after our bar performance," he said.

Leopoldus was also very happy with the final score, but concerned for the team's attitude about losing such a solid contributor as Whittaker.

Said Leopoldus: "We have to pull together and use this as a motivational force."