The Alabama women's gymnastics team left Rec Hall last March with a score high enough to boost its national ranking from 11th to fifth.
But its score of 196.625 was not enough to hold off upset-minded No. 17 Penn State's 196.650.
"It was really exciting," senior Casey Rohrbaugh said. "That was probably one of the highlights of our year last year."
In 2010, the Tide will once again travel Rec Hall on Jan. 30. Alabama is joined on the Lions' schedule, which was released Monday, by eight other teams that finished the season ranked in the top 25.
On March 12, the Lions travel to Salt Lake City to take on Utah (finished third in nation) and Oregon State (11th).
Other ranked teams on the Lions' slate include Illinois and Michigan, both of which defeated Penn State in the regular season and at the Big Ten championship.
"I think it helps us in the end if we compete against better teams," senior Rosie Smith said. "If you face better teams, they're making you want to be better in the long run. We all work harder. I think it's good. I'm excited for our schedule this year."
Last season, Penn State took the momentum from knocking off a national power to advance to the national championship for the first time since 2005.
In Lincoln, Neb., the Lions narrowly missed out on competing in the Super Six team final, and they finished ninth in the nation. Alabama went on to finish second, losing the national title to Georgia by .250.
Despite Denver having a down year last season and finishing outside of the final top 25, there will be plenty of motivation for the Penn State gymnasts when they make the trip to Colorado on Jan. 16.
Denver kept this season's senior class from advancing to the national championship by less than a tenth of a point in both its freshman and sophomore seasons.
Last season, the Lions struggled early in the season in road meets and dug themselves a hole. In college gymnastics, rankings are determined by a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) which is an average of six scores. Three of the scores counted must be road meets.
The way the NCAA distributes teams to regional sites a team must be ranked in the top 12 going into regionals in order to have the best chance at qualifying for nationals.
Penn State did squeak into the top 12 barely before regionals.
This season, the schedule starts with two road meets--the trip to Denver and a season opening meet Jan. 8, at Michigan State against the Spartans and West Virginia.
"It's really important [to get off to a good start] because we have to count so many scores on the road," Rohrbaugh said. "Have that solid base score. You don't have all the pressure at the end of the season when there's already a lot of pressure."
Penn State coach Steve Shephard said the rankings are so vital in gymnastics that his team doesn't "have the luxury of starting out slow."
"I think the only way we're going to prepare our team to compete on the national level is to compete against the best teams we can compete against," he said. "That's what we've tried to do with our schedule is create some compelling matchups for our home crowds. Try to increase our attendance and also put our athletes in competitive situations that are going to prepare them for."
