Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

After flying through its past three meets, the Terrapin gymnastics team came crashing back to the floor on Friday night.

Six Terps fell during their routines, including four in the floor exercise, and the Terps lost to Penn State 195.275-191.600 at the Comcast Center Pavilion.

"It's just one of those [meets] that you hope you don't run into again," coach Bob Nelligan said. "To be real honest, I think they got their pride bruised tonight."

The team score was the Terps' lowest since Jan. 26 and was more than three points below their season high of 194.700 that was set in the previous meet.

The Nittany Lions showed why they were ranked No. 16 in the nation going into the meet, as they led after each of the four rotations. They won three of the four individual events outright, and the Terps' Angela Ferg prevented a sweep by finishing in a three-way tie in the vault.

"Penn State's a great team, and it's always great to have teams like that come here so we can see ourselves against them," Ferg said. "There's no extra pressure. It's a very individual sport. We just needed to stay within ourselves."

The Terps appeared to be star-crossed from the beginning of the night when freshman Candice King slipped on the vault during warm-ups and appeared to land awkwardly on her neck. King was uninjured and able to compete, but the incident foreshadowed the Terps' mishaps during the competition.

The Terps suffered one fall on the uneven bars and one on the balance beam, but after the first three events, they still had earned a solid 144.650.

Then came the fateful floor exercise when four of the six competitors fell, and the final score became lopsided.

"After three events we really weren't in bad shape," Nelligan said. "It was like a balloon with a pinhole, and the air was just leaking out."

The poor performance came at the worst possible time for the Terps, who are trying to qualify for the Southeast Regional Championships. With four meets remaining, the Terps still need to move past one more team in the regional standings to clinch a spot.

"It certainly didn't help our efforts," Nelligan said.

Contact reporter Greg Schimmel at schimmeldbk@gmail.com.

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