The women's gymnastics team shouldn't need to climb the negativity rope today.

The Nittany Lions seemed to regain their confidence yesterday as they defeated West Virginia (195.425) and Ball State (190.975), with an overall score of 196.650.

"We did awesome," senior Kate Stopper said. "We didn't have the meet of our lives, but we can still [score a] 197."

Meredith Hoover (39.375) finished first in the all-around, her highest all-around score of the season. Lindsay Borkan came in second with 39.300, just below her season high of 39.325. Both of them set two new season highs on individual events, and they both tied a season high on an event.

Vault was a spectacular event for Penn State. Three of the gymnasts scored a 9.9 or above on the event. Clark hit a 9.950, Jennifer Orlando a 9.925 and Stopper scored a 9.900. Borkan, Hoover and Amie Olaes all scored a 9.800 on the vault. The scores were season highs for everyone, except Borkan.

"Our mentality now is to have practice be the meet, and meet be practice," junior Lisa Clark said. "We started and ended the meet with the same level of fun, which is what we need to do."

Floor exercise, usually Penn State's strongest event, played second fiddle to vault, but still came out very strong. Borkan's 9.925 was good enough for first in the event. Hoover, Orlando and Clark followed her, all tied at No. 3 with 9.875.

"I couldn't ask for anything better on floor," Penn State coach Steve Shephard said. "Lindsay's routine was probably the best of anyone in the country."

Penn State took first and second in the beam. Hoover finished with a 9.850 and Borkan scored a 9.825, her season high for the event. Genavieve Shingle moved back to fifth in the rotation in order to regain confidence and be able to hit her routine, which she did with a 9.800, her season high. She tied with Corissa Pirkl and West Virginia's Cheryl Goldenfield for third in the event.

The Lions still had some trouble on bars. Not one of the gymnasts stuck her landing and it caused point deductions. Hoover finished second with a 9.800, which tied her season high in the event. Kristal Uzelac (9.775) finished third.

Uzelac, who has a sprained knee, also competed in the beam scoring a 9.750.