UCLA Gymnastics Team Voted Preseason No. 1UCLA Gymnastics Team Voted Preseason No. 1

UCLA Ends Regular Season At Cal State Fullerton Sunday

Gymnastics

This Week - The eighth-ranked UCLA gymnastics team (10-7) closes out the regular season schedule on Sunday, Mar. 13 at Cal State Fullerton. The meet will take place in Titan Gym at 2 pm. Tickets - Ge

March 9, 2011

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This Week - The eighth-ranked UCLA gymnastics team (10-7) closes out the regular season schedule on Sunday, Mar. 13 at Cal State Fullerton. The meet will take place in Titan Gym at 2 pm.

Tickets - General admission tickets cost $5 and can be purchased at the door or online at fullertontitans.com.

Live Coverage - Cal State Fullerton will host live scoring at FullertonTitans.com. Also check UCLABruins for additional live coverage on game day.

In The Rankings - UCLA maintained its position at No. 8 in the national rankings with a RQS of 196.170. The Bruins are tied for sixth on vault (49.185) and ranked fourth on bars (49.235), 10th on beam (48.915) and fifth on floor (49.180). Individually, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs is the only all-arounder ranked in the Top 25, checking in at 14th (39.220). Tauny Frattone is tied for 10th on vault (9.885), and Olivia Courtney is tied for 13th (9.880).

Bruins Place Second In Tri-Meet With Georgia, Arizona - A shaky beam rotation proved costly for eighth-ranked UCLA, which scored 195.75 and placed second in a tri-meet with Georgia and Arizona on Senior Day Mar. 6. Georgia won the meet with a score of 196.175, and Arizona was third with a 194.125. The Bruins led by six-tenths at the halfway mark but had to count two falls on beam in the third rotation, allowing Georgia to move ahead. The Bruins had event winners on vault (Tauny Frattone and Olivia Courtney), balance beam (Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs) and floor exercise (Frattone and Niki Tom).

Frattone Wins Sixth Straight - Junior Tauny Frattone won vault for the sixth consecutive meet, posting a 9.925 to tie for first place on Mar. 6. She continues to be UCLA's top vaulter this season, ranking 10th in the nation and averaging a team-high 9.875. She has scored 9.8 or better in 20 consecutive meets and in 24 of 26 career meets. Frattone tied her career-high of 9.95 on Feb. 21 against NC State and was subsequently honored with the Pac-10 Special Performance of the Week. She also scored a career-high 9.85 on beam in that meet and tied her season-high on floor with a 9.8. She had another big meet on Mar. 6, winning both events she competed - vault (9.925) and floor (career-high-tying 9.9).

Tom Triumphs On Senior Day - Senior Niki Tom celebrated Senior Day on Mar. 6 with one of her best performances of her career, tying her career-best with a 9.9 on floor exercise in the final rotation. The score was good for a tie for first place, giving Tom her first career floor victory and her first career Pac-10 weekly honor for the Special Performance of the Week. She also performed well under duress on beam, scoring 9.775 on beam immediately after a fall from the leadoff performer. Tom has been the Bruins' top floor performer this year, averaging 9.844 in the No. 2 position in the lineup. She has hit 18 of her 19 routines so far this season.

Peszek Back On Three - Freshman Samantha Peszek is now back on three events (vault, bars and beam) after sitting out the first five meets of the year with a foot fracture. Peszek made her collegiate debut on Feb. 11 and tied for first on uneven bars with a 9.9 on her first collegiate routine. She was awarded the Pac-10 Special Performance of the Week honor for this routine. On Feb. 27, she scored a career-high 9.925 on bars to win the event. Peszek competed on vault and beam for the first time Mar. 6 and scored 9.825 on vault and 9.25 on beam. She is leading the team on bars with an average of 9.869 and has won the event in two out of four meets so far.

Hopfner-Hibbs On A Roll - Junior Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs has hit 24 consecutive routines without a fall and has posted the Bruins' top all-around score in all six meets in which she has competed all-around. On beam, she has scored 9.95 three times in seven meets and is averaging 9.908 in her last six meets. For the year, she averages over 9.82 on every event - 9.836 on vault, 9.825 on floor and 9.821 on bars and beam. Hopfner-Hibbs was named the Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week twice this season and has tied the Pac-10 record for most career Gymnast of the Week honors with six.

UCLA Hosts Pac-10 Championships - Pauley Pavilion is playing host to the 2011 Pac-10 Championships on Mar. 19 at 4 pm. Tickets are on sale now at the UCLA Central Ticket Office (310-UCLA-WIN or tickets.ucla.edu). Ticket prices are $14 for adults/$12 for youth in the lower-level section and $10 for adults/$8 for youth in the mid-level seating. This is the first time UCLA has hosted the Pac-10 Championships since 2003. UCLA won the title that year with a Championship record score of 198.175. The Bruins are the two-time defending Pac-10 champions and have won a total of 15 Pac-10 team titles in the 24 years of the Championships.

Pauley Pavilion Sendoff - Legendary Pauley Pavilion is closing for renovations in April and will be shut down for the 2011-12 school year. Next week's Pac-10 Championships will be the final championship held in the current Pauley Pavilion. The arena has been host to three NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, the most recent being in 2004, when UCLA ran away with the NCAA title with a championship record score of 198.125. Pauley Pavilion was also host to two NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, both won by UCLA in 1984 and 1987, and was the site for the 1984 Olympic gymnastics competition, where three Bruins led the U.S. men's team to its first-ever team gold.