Posted: 2/18/05 Section: Sports

Danye Botterman performs on the uneven bars on Jan. 30 at Huff Hall. Illinois lost to Denver 195.025-194.150.

The Big Ten is noted for its rivalries, and one of the better ones will be played out in East Lansing, Mich., when No. 27 Illinois goes up against No. 25 Michigan State in a dual women's gymnastics meet on Saturday.

The Illini are coming off a tough road loss against Missouri and are in the midst of a three-week road trip.

"It's always hard when you're going on the road; you're not sleeping in your own bed," said senior Lauren Newcomb. "You're not in your normal routine, you're eating out, there is wear and tear on your body - but you do what you can to prepare yourself and be ready."

Michigan State (12-4) has had an impressive run this year, with all of its losses coming against top-20 teams, and are coming off a second-place finish in a quad meet in which they were only bested by Michigan. The Spartans will be looking forward to their first home meet since Jan. 30.

"Conference meets add more pressure to perform well, and you want to show the other teams in the [Big Ten] that you're viable for a Big Ten championship," said head coach Bob Starkell. "Michigan State has had an extremely solid first half of the season, and it's going to be a challenge to beat them at their own place."

The Illini (8-4) are looking to improve on the vault, which cost them in the meet against Missouri and continues to be a weak point for the team. Last week, Michelle McGrady's return from a broken foot did not provide the expected boost for the team on vault, but not having the pressure of competing in her first college meet and having more time for her foot to heal should improve her performance the next time around.

The team's score was hurt with falls against Missouri, and they're looking to prevent those from occurring at this time of the season.

"First, we look if [falls] have been a reoccurring thing and that hasn't been a factor for us," Starkell said. "The two falls that happened last week were with us trying to do something new on vault, and we probably weren't ready for it at that time. We made the decision that to beat Missouri we would have to put our strongest vault line up. [Last week] was a good learning tool for us to use this weekend, where we should have a better opportunity for success."

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