Withstanding a late push from No. 24 N.C. State, the No. 19 Penn State women's gymnastics team claimed its second victory in as many weeks, defeating N.C. State, 193.850-192.625. The win also signaled the end of a three-meet homestand.

The victory holds much importance, as the team will head to West Virginia University next weekend for its first away meet since traveling to Arkansas for the Super Six Challenge earlier this month.

"We're looking forward to it," Penn State coach Steve Shephard said. "We've been home for three weeks in a row so we need to get out there and see what we can do on the road."

With an overall score of 193.850, the Nittany Lions did improve from last weeks' showing, however, Shephard still feels that the team he has is much better than it displayed Saturday night.

"Our team rankings are totally based on average score which makes it crucial to keep the scores high," Shephard said. "We need to get that average up."

Using the vocal support of the home faithful at Rec Hall, many gymnasts set career bests, and claimed numerous event titles. All four individual-event crowns were awarded to Penn State gymnasts, with vault being the only exception -- a three-way tie for first place involving freshmen Rosie Smith and Brandi Personett and N.C. State's Taylor Seaman.

Penn State senior Stephanie Sullivan captured the title on beam, a repeat of her win from last week's meet.

While Personett failed to garner her third consecutive all-around title, she still managed to set career bests on vault as well as floor exercise.

"For Brandi, that was actually a new vault for her. We've been training that all year," Shephard said. "She looked very good in practice this week so we decided to go for it."

Personett fell during her beam routine, but recovered well to finish cleanly, although it may have cost her the all-around title.

"This was my first fall, and I'm hoping to just get it out of my system and move on past it," Personett said. "I think that once someone falls, everyone's nerves come out a bit more, but we pulled it together."

The fall was very unexpected not only for Personett, but the crowd in attendance. Immediately after the fall, a collective gasp was let go by the home fans.