Gymnastics: WVU's Rally Falls Short
March 12, 2011 10:42 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia gymnastics team closed out its regular season with a narrow 195.825-195.025 defeat to No. 10 Penn State this evening at the WVU Coliseum.
The meet was closer than the final score implies, as only 0.7 points separated the Mountaineers (9-7, 6-1 EAGL) and the Nittany Lions (13-4, 1-2 Big Ten) through three rotations. Though WVU scored 49.0 on floor, its third-best score of the season, PSU tallied a meet-best 49.1 points on beam to solidify its win.
PSU’s margin of victory was significantly smaller tonight than six weeks ago, when the Nittany Lions trumped the Mountaineers, 195.55-194.05, on Feb. 6, in University Park, Pa.
WVU’s team total is its fourth 195.0-plus score of the year.
The Mountaineers scored a 49.0-48.55 victory on floor, while the Nittany Lions won vault (49.125-48.875), bars (49.05-48.6) and beam (49.1-48.55).
Senior Amy Bieski scored 39.0 points, her seventh 39.0-plus mark of the season, and finished fourth overall. With tonight’s score, the Nanticoke, Pa., native passes six-time All-American Kristin Quackenbush on the all-time WVU career points list and ranks No. 3 with 1,901.65.
Bieski’s evening included second place finishes on vault and floor with 9.875 and 9.825 scores, respectively; the vault mark is a season high.
PSU swept the all-around, with Madison Merriam finishing first with 39.375 points. Sharaya Musser placed second (39.225), and Whitney Bencsko finished third (39.2).
Freshman Hope Sloanhoffer tallied 9.8 on beam and floor to finish third and fourth, respectively. The Cornwall, N.Y., native has now scored 9.8 or better in 26 of 33 career routines.
WVU fell behind after one rotation, scoring 48.875 on vault while PSU earned 49.05 on bars.
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe just missed the vault podium, as she matched her career-best score of 9.8 and finished fourth overall. Sloanhoffer, ranked No. 1 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL), tied for fifth place with a 9.775 showing.
The Mountaineers pushed their two-event team total to 97.475 with a 48.6 showing on bars, but the Nittany Lions retained their edge, scoring 49.125 on vault for a running tally of 98.175.
Senior Emily Kerwin scored a career-best 9.825 for the third time this season to finish third overall with the meet’s second-best score. Bieski finished second on the team, sixth overall, with a 9.75 score, while senior Faye Meaden scored a season-best 9.725 and finished in ninth place.
WVU pulled within 0.7 points of PSU in the third rotation, 146.725-146.025, as the team hit six-for-six beam routines for the second straight week and tallied 48.55 points. The Nittany Lions earned a floor score of 48.55.
Sloanhoffer’s third place, 9.8 mark was her eighth 9.8-plus beam score of the season. Sophomore Kaylyn Millick tallied 9.775, her highest event score in the WVU Coliseum this year, and finished second on the team, sixth overall. Classmate Arlene Hathaway scored 9.7 to finish third on the team.
The Mountaineers, solid on floor all season, closed the meet with a 49.0 showing. PSU scored 49.1 on beam.
Junior Tina Maloney tied Bieski for second place with a season-best 9.825 score. Goldschrafe, Millick and freshman Makenzie Bristol preceded Sloanhoffer’s fourth-place finish with matching 9.775 scores and finished in a four-way tie with Bencsko for fifth place.
Tonight’s loss drops WVU to 35-6 in the all-time series with PSU. The Mountaineers concluded their home season with a 6-2 record, and compiled regular-season records of 1-6 against ranked opponents and 3-5 in dual meets.
Six seniors were recognized after tonight’s meet – Bieski, Kerwin, Meaden, Naja Johnson, Stephanie Keaton and Alysha Pretzello. Together, they have amassed a record of 95-31.
The seniors, freshmen when WVU won its last EAGL Championship in 2008, will next compete for the program’s seventh league title, as the team travels to Washington, D.C., for the 2011 EAGL Championship on March 19. The meet, hosted by George Washington, is set for a 2 p.m. start.
The meet was closer than the final score implies, as only 0.7 points separated the Mountaineers (9-7, 6-1 EAGL) and the Nittany Lions (13-4, 1-2 Big Ten) through three rotations. Though WVU scored 49.0 on floor, its third-best score of the season, PSU tallied a meet-best 49.1 points on beam to solidify its win.
PSU’s margin of victory was significantly smaller tonight than six weeks ago, when the Nittany Lions trumped the Mountaineers, 195.55-194.05, on Feb. 6, in University Park, Pa.
WVU’s team total is its fourth 195.0-plus score of the year.
The Mountaineers scored a 49.0-48.55 victory on floor, while the Nittany Lions won vault (49.125-48.875), bars (49.05-48.6) and beam (49.1-48.55).
Senior Amy Bieski scored 39.0 points, her seventh 39.0-plus mark of the season, and finished fourth overall. With tonight’s score, the Nanticoke, Pa., native passes six-time All-American Kristin Quackenbush on the all-time WVU career points list and ranks No. 3 with 1,901.65.
Bieski’s evening included second place finishes on vault and floor with 9.875 and 9.825 scores, respectively; the vault mark is a season high.
PSU swept the all-around, with Madison Merriam finishing first with 39.375 points. Sharaya Musser placed second (39.225), and Whitney Bencsko finished third (39.2).
Freshman Hope Sloanhoffer tallied 9.8 on beam and floor to finish third and fourth, respectively. The Cornwall, N.Y., native has now scored 9.8 or better in 26 of 33 career routines.
WVU fell behind after one rotation, scoring 48.875 on vault while PSU earned 49.05 on bars.
Sophomore Chelsea Goldschrafe just missed the vault podium, as she matched her career-best score of 9.8 and finished fourth overall. Sloanhoffer, ranked No. 1 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL), tied for fifth place with a 9.775 showing.
The Mountaineers pushed their two-event team total to 97.475 with a 48.6 showing on bars, but the Nittany Lions retained their edge, scoring 49.125 on vault for a running tally of 98.175.
Senior Emily Kerwin scored a career-best 9.825 for the third time this season to finish third overall with the meet’s second-best score. Bieski finished second on the team, sixth overall, with a 9.75 score, while senior Faye Meaden scored a season-best 9.725 and finished in ninth place.
WVU pulled within 0.7 points of PSU in the third rotation, 146.725-146.025, as the team hit six-for-six beam routines for the second straight week and tallied 48.55 points. The Nittany Lions earned a floor score of 48.55.
Sloanhoffer’s third place, 9.8 mark was her eighth 9.8-plus beam score of the season. Sophomore Kaylyn Millick tallied 9.775, her highest event score in the WVU Coliseum this year, and finished second on the team, sixth overall. Classmate Arlene Hathaway scored 9.7 to finish third on the team.
The Mountaineers, solid on floor all season, closed the meet with a 49.0 showing. PSU scored 49.1 on beam.
Junior Tina Maloney tied Bieski for second place with a season-best 9.825 score. Goldschrafe, Millick and freshman Makenzie Bristol preceded Sloanhoffer’s fourth-place finish with matching 9.775 scores and finished in a four-way tie with Bencsko for fifth place.
Tonight’s loss drops WVU to 35-6 in the all-time series with PSU. The Mountaineers concluded their home season with a 6-2 record, and compiled regular-season records of 1-6 against ranked opponents and 3-5 in dual meets.
Six seniors were recognized after tonight’s meet – Bieski, Kerwin, Meaden, Naja Johnson, Stephanie Keaton and Alysha Pretzello. Together, they have amassed a record of 95-31.
The seniors, freshmen when WVU won its last EAGL Championship in 2008, will next compete for the program’s seventh league title, as the team travels to Washington, D.C., for the 2011 EAGL Championship on March 19. The meet, hosted by George Washington, is set for a 2 p.m. start.
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