vs. Central Michigan
7 p.m. tomorrow at Rec Hall

One week after dropping a close meet to second-ranked Alabama, the Penn State women's gymnastics team returns to action tomorrow at 7 p.m. in its home opener against Central Michigan.

Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard acknowledged that the team has been working on a lot of things since Alabama and believes that the added work this week in practice will prove to be helpful in its competition tomorrow.

"The [uneven] bars have been a big issue for us," Shepard said.

"Scoring 47.925 (out of 50) was a big problem for us against Alabama. We've been working a lot this week on increasing our difficulty level so that doesn't happen again."

Shephard is also expecting big things out of some of her more experienced gymnasts.

"I'm expecting Lisa Clark to fair a lot better [than last week]," Shephard said. "It was her first competition in over a year and I'm sure she was very nervous. There's no doubt in my mind she'll be on top of her game against Central Michigan. I also think the five new freshmen have been a pleasant surprise for us. They've come in here and contributed very well and will be a big part of our success this season."

Shephard said that the match-up against Central Michigan should be very competitive and an exciting match up.

"They're a very solid team," he said. "It's going to be a great meet."

-- By Tom Loughner