In her normal leadoff spot on the balance beam, Casey Rohrbaugh performed a routine as good as the one that scored her a 9.850 the week before -- or so she thought.
When a score of 9.650 came up, the senior said the No. 18 Penn State women's gymnastics team looked around in disbelief.
After the five remaining Nittany Lions completed their beam routines in Friday night's quad-meet at No. 9 Utah, Penn State's score on the event -- the Lions' final event of the meet -- stood at 48.675.
The beam score gave the Lions a team total of 195.700, which put them in last place behind the Utes (196.975), No. 8 Oregon State (196.650) and No. 21 Southern Utah (196.025).
The sub-par beam score was just one week removed from a 49.350 against Michigan, a score closer to what Rohrbaugh thought the team deserved Friday. Senior co-captain Rosie Smith said it was one of Penn State's strongest beam performances of 2010, regardless of the score.
"Basically an entire event was out of our control," Rohrbaugh said of the low-scoring beam judges.
"We did what we could, and we did well, but it's frustrating when you do really well and you aren't rewarded for it."
Aside from the beam, the Lions also tallied a below-average 48.850 on the uneven bars.
They counted two uncharacteristic mistakes on the event, including a fall from freshman Madison Merriam.
Penn State coach Steve Shephard said the move Merriam missed was one she hadn't missed all year, even in practice.
Smith was the other Penn State gymnast to make a mistake on the bars and said aside from the two mistakes, the Lions did well in the event.
"Things like that just happen sometimes, and you have to work with it," Smith said of her and Merriam's falters.
"That's why this is a team sport -- so each person can try to pick up the slack for their teammates."
Despite finishing last on floor, the Lions eclipsed the 49.00 mark and also scored a 49.100 on the vault.
Overall, Shephard was pleased with Penn State's performance and the way the Lions handled the pressure of performing in front of the loud Utah crowd.
The Huntsman Center saw 14,411 fans Friday night to watch the four highly competitive teams.
"I think it has the potential to bring out nerves, but I don't attribute our mistakes to nerves, per se," the coach said.
"They didn't seem nervous to me. They seemed pretty confident."
Smith agreed and said she thought the team did a sufficient job of blocking out the external sounds of the Utah crowd.
In fact, Smith said she thinks the crowd helped bring more energy.
"Everybody was really excited the whole time, and I think that will better prepare us for the [Big Ten championships], regionals and nationals," she said.
"That's what the crowd will be like at those three meets."
