The No. 18 Penn State women's gymnastics team has been searching for the right mixture of ingredients in its lineup to perform up to high expectations. A small change can be the difference in a satisfying performance and a disappointing one.

Following a win against N.C. State, Penn State coach Steve Shephard expressed some frustration regarding his team's starters.

"It's killing me to see kids in exhibition beating our kids in the lineup," Shephard said. "It makes it frustrating for us as a coaching staff to figure out which kids are going to be able to get it done."

Changes to the lineup that were made in the week leading up to the team's most recent victory at West Virginia University helped propel the squad to its highest overall score of the season (195.625), finishing first in a five-team competition.

The reason for placing gymnasts in an exhibition role seems to be one of preparation.

"We use exhibition to try and get meet experience for the kids who aren't in the lineup and to see what they're going to do in a meet situation," Shephard said. "But I think that one of the issues with exhibition is they know their score's not going to count towards the overall, so the pressure is not really on them in that sense."

Freshman Alex Brockway competed in the first all-around of her young career, finishing second behind fellow freshman teammate Brandi Personett.

"Allie [Southard] went in on vault where she's been in exhibition, and Alex went in on beam where she's previously been in exhibition," Shephard said.

Junior Lindsay Borkan recalls her experiences performing in exhibition earlier in her career.

"When I was a freshman, I was taken out of the lineup and put into exhibition," she said. "I looked at it as my way to prove that they were wrong for taking me out."

Borkan looks at exhibition performances as a way for a gymnast to stand out and let it be known that you want a starting spot.

"I think it's more of a pressure situation performing in exhibition because you are put on the spot, even though you aren't competing for the team, the coaches are testing you to see whether or not you can handle it," Borkan said. "If you do well and do better than the girls in lineup, then most likely by next week, you'll be in."

According to Shephard, exhibition routines also serve another crucial purpose for a team that has a long, grueling schedule.

"Our backups are very important to us because they could be called on at any minute to step into the lineup," Shephard said. "If someone goes down in warm up or a meet, the ones in exhibition are going to have to step up and be ready to go."

The Nittany Lions are a team that knows about injuries all too well with two seasoned leaders unable to contribute. Senior Corissa Pirkl has been out since the Jan. 20 meet against Minnesota, and junior Aslynn Satterfield has been sidelined for the entire season. However, Shephard is very optimistic about the return of both gymnasts in the very near future.

"We're getting Aslynn back soon," Shephard said. "She did her vault yesterday and she looks great. Her hand feels fine, so if not this weekend, then next weekend we'd like to get her back in there.

"Corissa did a whole bar routine without a dismount yesterday, so today we're going to do some dismounts with a harness to soften the impact on her legs when she lands. She's progressing really well."

As those two gymnasts recover to full strength, more changes to the starting rotation may be made. But until then, Penn State seems to be headed in the right direction with the setup it presently has.

"We have a strong lineup, so hopefully with Corissa and Aslynn getting back in the next couple of weeks we should continue to keep improving," Borkan said. "The changes that were made were definitely an improvement, so we're really happy with how we did."