The training wheels have been taken off and the Penn State women's swimming team has been thrown into the thick of its season.

The No. 12 Nittany Lions improved to three wins for the season as they took out Virginia 195-158, but fell to No. 2 Auburn 195.5-150.5, in this past weekend's quad meet held in Charlottesville, Va.

"I was really pleased with the races this weekend," Penn State swimming coach Bill Dorenkott said. "We typically aren't a strong team in the first half of the season; we usually turn it on come February and March."

Penn State held a commanding lead over the Cavaliers during Saturday's meet session and was boosted to a victory with a late win on Sunday's meet session when Sarah Haupt, Abby Hoisington, Amberle Biedermann and Molly Crispell combined forces in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:44.68.

"Virginia is well-coached with good talent," Dorenkott said. "They are a good challenge. I put the challenge out there; we didn't stray from our training plan and they came up big."

The Lions (3-2, 0-1) swam strong on Saturday, despite Auburn winning 14 out of the 20 events for the first day's meet session, and struggled to keep up against the national title contenders from then on out.

"Auburn is ranked fairly high and this is the strongest showing I've seen against them," Dorenkott said. "I schedule the meet every year against them, and this year we did really well."

The young Penn State team continues to be led by two of its top seniors, Haupt and Biederman, as they also made splashes in individual events. Haupt captured a win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.17 and Biedermann took home a first-place finish, winning the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.16.

"I was definitely impressed by the seniors," Dorenkott said. "They had a good weekend of racing as they have ever had, and it is nice to see them reinvent themselves after four years in the program."

Freshman Kaitlin O'Brien made her presence known to the Lions, along with both Auburn and Virginia. She made her first NCAA 'B' cut in the 400 individual medley.

The Lions now focus their attention to next week's rival West Chester as they return for their second home meet.