It was a nail-biter. Four members of the No. 15 Penn State women's gymnastics team had finished their routine on the balance beam. Two had fallen, leaving the Lions in doubt of a victory over the No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks Friday night.

Everything was riding on the shoulders of junior Stephanie Sullivan and senior Meredith Hoover.

Sullivan was next to go and lived up to the pressure, posting a 9.85. Hoover followed with the same score, leading the team to a slim margin of victory, with a score of 194.65-194.575.

"It came down to those last two athletes to do their job the best they could and both Stephanie and Meredith really came through in the clutch," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said.

With their tied scores on beam, both Sullivan and Hoover won the event title and scored a season high. However, beam still seems to be a problem for the Lions this year, especially with falls from senior Jennifer Orlando and freshman Katie Perrett.

"On beam, we need to stay on the equipment. You can't count a fall on beam and expect to be a good team," Shephard said.

The team started the night on the uneven bars, where they posted a 48.65. Senior Michelle Ilg started off on the right foot with a score of 9.775, which was good enough for second place. Perrett, a consistent contributor in this event, also scored high with a 9.75.

Next the Lions went to vault, where their scores finally mirrored their performance. Senior Lisa Clark, Orlando and Ilg all posted a 9.825 and tied for second place. This was also a career high on vault of Ilg. This vault routine is new to Ilg and she finally succeeded in landing it. Shephard was very excited for her, saying it was a "big step."

"That was pretty exciting, I worked really hard to get that new vault," Ilg said.

Despite Ilg's top performance, she, along with everyone else who competed in this event, did not land their execution cleanly. This dropped valuable points off the score, points that could have put the Lions in a more secure position at the end of the meet.

"On vaulting, we need to improve our landings. We didn't stick any vaults. Everyone of them took a step," Shephard said.

The floor exercise was next and the Lions seemed to lose focus, even though they scored a 48.575. Hoover stepped out of bounds and junior Corissa Pirkl got lost during her performance when she turned the wrong way. However, junior Ashley Mehrer posted a 9.8, which tied her season high and gave her fourth place.

Despite the win, the Lions did not show the consistency that they have been striving towards

"I don't feel like we are reaching our full potential yet as a team. That is going to be our goal for the next meet coming up. For everyone to do what they are capable of doing and hopefully improve on some of the errors we made," Shephard said.