It's only normal that a team has jitters before its first meet. The No. 10 Penn State women's gymnastics team was struck by these jitters Saturday night, and it was unable to overcome them in time to win the home opener.

In a tri-meet vs. No. 20 Arizona and No. 1 Alabama, the Nittany Lions placed second with a score of 194.875. Alabama won the meet with a score of 196.15, and Arizona rounded it out with a score of 194.3.

"Overall, we did very well," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "But obviously we had some first-meet jitters and some mistakes."

The Lions began the night on vault and scored a 48.975. Jennifer Orlando and Lisa Clark both scored a 9.85 for the team high.

"We did really well with vault. I think the coaches are going to have a lot of decisions to make with who gets to compete next weekend," senior Meredith Hoover said.

The team next moved on to the uneven bars, where it continued to put up consistent results with a score of 48.7.

Katie Perret had a little trouble, falling twice before finishing her routine. However, Corrisa Pirkl finished strong, posting a 9.825.

"I think that was one of the best bar routines I ever did, and I tied my season high," Pirkl said.

The next event was the balance beam, where the team was a little shaky but still consistent with a score of 48.225.

"We had a little bit of a rough time on beam. Lisa fell and Katie had some wobbles and all of us really were shaky," Hoover said. "But I think that's the type of thing that once you get the nerves out and learn how to focus on competition and remember how to do that, will make us ready for the rest on the season."

The Lions finished the meet on the floor exercise, where Clark and Orlando again earned the highest scores for the Lions with a mark of 9.85. Overall, the team was solid and consistent, especially for the team's first meet."I actually think we did really well for our first meet. I think everyone put stuff together real well. We got out first-meet jitters. I think we are ready to bring it and step up from here," Pirkl said.

Happy with their performance over the weekend, the Lions are now looking to tweak the rough areas that are in need of the team's attention.

Execution, it seems, is the one area where the most practice is needed.

"All of us really need to focus on our execution. Just like pointed toes and straight legs, because that is what separates us from being in the top 10 and the top three," Pirkl said.