Finishing sixth sounds pretty good.

Unless, of course, there's only six teams competing.

So this weekend, the team hopes to get back down to business as it travels to Illinois Saturday for its first dual meet of the season.

Last weekend, the Penn State women's gymnastics team opened its 2000-01 season at the Super Six Challenge in Tuscaloosa, Ala., with a less than desirable finish.

Going into the meet the Nittany Lions hoped to defend their seventh place national finish from last season and this year's ninth place ranking in the Preseason Coaches Poll.

But that didn't exactly happen.

The team's confidence had been shaken early on in front of the approximate 10,000 in attendance at the Coleman Coliseum, and by the time it got it back, it was too late.

The damage had been done.

"This weekend will be very different," Penn State gymnast Gemma Cuff said. "It's only a dual meet and the crowd won't be very big. I think it will be not so daunting an experience for everyone."

The two teams met twice last season—once during the regular season and once during the Big Ten tournament. Penn State beat the Fighting Illini by a score of 194.325 to 190.575 in the dual meet held in State College on Jan. 22.

During the Big Ten tournament, Penn State had the advantage again by a score of 196.575 to 193.75.

"Penn State performed well on all four events (at the tournament)," Illinois women's gymnastics coach Bob Starkell said.

"We had the dreaded balance beam."

Beam was one of the two events last weekend that Penn State finished in sixth place, including a fall from beam by junior Nikki Bongiovanni securing a score of 9.125.

Penn State's best performance last weekend came on floor.

Penn State finished third in the event with a score of 49.025 behind Georgia and Alabama.

Senior Gemma Cuff and sophomore Katie Rowland tied for fourth in the event with scores of 9.875.

Teammate Leslie Bair finished close behind in seventh with 9.850.

"Last weekend was real motivating to see where we are against the top teams in the country," Nittany Lion gymnast Maria Taylor said.

Penn State competed against five teams all ranked in the top ten of the Preseason Coaches Poll including Georgia (No. 2), Michigan (No. 3), Alabama (No. 5), Stanford (No. 7) and Florida (No. 10).

"It was a good experience for a lot of the underclassmen," Taylor said."We've really tried to step it up in the gym this week and hopefully it will pay off."

The team went to work this past week focusing on the problem areas it experienced last weekend in Tuscaloosa, including sticking mounts on beam, working on performing well on the uneven bars under pressure situations and adding more difficult elements into floor routines.

As for the confidence aspect, the Nittany Lions are still plugging away.

"We're working really hard at developing consistency in our routines," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said.

Both teams are looking forward to this weekend's meet. Penn State hopes to prove itself this weekend as the competitor it knows it is and can be, and Illinois wants to open its season on a good note.

"We always appreciate the competition against Penn State," Starkell said.

"We're excited our first meet is against a highly talented team but we are also excited because it's Penn State."