Gymnastics Travels to New Hamsphire
February 07, 2015 10:39 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following its season-best showing at NC State, the West Virginia University gymnastics team stays on the road and travels to New Hampshire for a meet with Brown and Towson on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m., at Lundholm Gym, in Durham, New Hampshire.
The competition is the team’s second straight quad meet and third in five weeks at a former East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) foe. The Mountaineers (4-4-1, 0-0-1) are 4-3 on the road this season, and five gymnasts have earned six event wins away from Morgantown.
The Mountaineers look to put together a streak of 195.0+ road scores, as the team tallied a season-best 195.35 in its win at NCSU on January 31. The mark was the team’s first road score of 195.0 or better since 2013. The Mountaineers’ team score has improved by at least 0.5 each week.
“We talked a lot this past Monday about replicating our performance at NC State, and I think the team can go to UNH and do the exact same thing again,” said Mountaineer coach Jason Butts. “We talked about how much we all enjoyed a good performance, and that’s because we focused on the things we can control. That’s our goal again this weekend. We’re really focusing on the little details right now, and that’s great.
“I think eventually we will hit our score ceiling, but I think we can definitely improve by at least another half point this weekend. I would love to see that. Really, it all comes down to duplicating our performance from last weekend – if we do that, the scores will be there.”
WVU continues to rank nationally on vault and checks in at No. 17 with a 49.031 average. The squad also is up four spots to No. 31 (48.706 avg.) on floor. Additionally, three gymnasts own individual rankings, paced by sophomore Alexa Goldberg’s No. 21 (9.856 avg.) on bars. Junior Jaida Lawrence is No. 29 (9.869 avg.) on vault, and sophomore Nicolette Swoboda is No. 40 (39.0) in the all-around.
Goldberg and Lawrence have combined for eight podium finishes this season, including three wins on bars for Goldberg and two victories on vault for Lawrence.
Sunday’s meeting is the first between the Mountaineers and the Wildcats (5-1, 1-0 EAGL) since WVU took a 196.55-194.875 win at the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 24, 2013. WVU owns a 4-2 record in the teams’ last six meetings. Three years have passed since the Mountaineers’ last visit to UNH, a 195.75-194.225 defeat on Feb. 25, 2012. Despite the loss, WVU took the top four all-around finishes. The Mountaineers own a 27-9 all-time series advantage.
Then ranked No. 24, the Wildcats earned their third consecutive victory with a 194.15-189.225 win over Temple at Lundholm Gym on January 31. Sophomore Meghan Pflieger owns three straight all-around wins, including a 38.9 victory last week. She ranks No. 39 nationally with a 39.006 season average. UNH scored a season-best 195.9 on January 18.
The Mountaineers and the Bears (7-2) last met in 2009, a 195.25-185.95 WVU win at Oklahoma on Feb. 20. WVU is 3-0 all-time against Brown.
Sunday is the Bears’ third road meet of the season. The squad is coming off a 192.875, third-place finish at Rutgers on January 31. Sophomore Caroline Morant paces the team on vault (9.642 avg.), bars (9.717 avg.), floor (9.725 avg.) and the all-around (38.208 avg.).
The Mountaineers and the Tigers (5-4, 0-1 EAGL) have met each of the last three seasons, with WVU scoring the win each time, including a 195.5-192.425 victory at the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 2, 2014. WVU’s last loss to TU was a 195.775-195.65 defeat at the 2003 EAGL Championship in Durham, New Hampshire. WVU owns a 19-10 series advantage.
The Tigers also are on the road for the second straight week, having finished second at Texas Woman’s University on February 1 with a 194.125 mark. TU owns a season-high score of 194.525. Freshman Tyra McKeller leads the team on floor (9.706 avg.) and the all-around (38.581 avg.).
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