University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA Drops Dual Meet To Stanford, 196.2-194.825
January 23, 2011 | Gymnastics
Jan. 23, 2011
Complete Results
Uneven Bars Video | Vault Video
Floor Exercise Video | Balance Beam Video
Stanford, CA - No. 8 UCLA dropped a dual meet to No. 2 Stanford on Sunday afternoon, 196.2-194.825. The Bruins were competing short-handed after resting all-around standouts Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (muscle spasms in her neck) and Olivia Courtney (hamstring pull) and limiting Monique De La Torre (ankle) to just bars. Junior Aisha Gerber led four all-around competitors for UCLA, scoring a season-high 39.225. Freshman Sydney Sawa added a 39.025 in her all-around debut.
The Bruins started off strong with a 49.125 on bars. All six competitors earned 9.75 or better, with Gerber leading the way with a 9.85. Brittani McCullough and Tauny Frattone started off with season-highs of 9.825 and 9.75, respectively, and Sawa contributed a 9.825. After tweaking her ankle at Southern Utah last week, Monique De La Torre came back to earn a 9.825. After Gerber's 9.85, Lichelle Wong closed with a 9.8.
Armed with a three-tenths lead, the Bruins moved to vault. Sawa's led off with a 9.75. Wong had a mishap on vault and landed awkwardly and was pulled from the lineup for the remainder of the meet for precautionary reasons. Gerber had to follow Wong and responded beautifully with a 9.775. McCullough scored 9.825, and Frattone stuck her vault and was ultimately awarded a meet-high 9.875. Niki Tom, who had only competed on vault four other times in her career, added a 9.475 on her 9.8-valued vault to give UCLA a 48.7 team total. Stanford scored 48.975 on bars to keep the teams just .025 apart at the halfway mark.
UCLA moved to floor in the third rotation and had six hit routines for a 49.175 score. Frattone's leadoff score of 9.8 was a season-high. Tom added a 9.825, and Talia Kushynski scored 9.725 in just her fourth competition on the event. Sawa nailed her routine and scored a career-high 9.85. Gerber, who filled in for Wong, scored a season-high 9.8 on just her second floor routine since her freshman year. McCullough finished with a big routine that scored a season-high 9.9 and maintained UCLA's lead, 147.0-146.95.
The final rotation started well for UCLA when Gerber hit a leadoff routine for a 9.8. Sawa showed good fight to save a fall and ended up with a 9.6. Tom was solid, scoring 9.775. Due to various injuries, the back half of the lineup was shuffled a bit, and three competitors with little experience on beam were forced into a pressure situation. Kushynski, who had never been in the beam lineup for the Bruins filled in last-minute for Wong and had a strong start to her routine but fell on a back layout, scoring 9.0. McCullough, on beam for only the third time since 2009, fell on her flight series and scored 9.3. Frattone, who had not trained on beam since suffering a foot injury in the season-opener, also fell on her flight series and scored 9.35. UCLA finished with a beam total of 47.825 and a final team score of 194.825.
"We went into the meet like we always do - with a specific plan," said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field. "It's always very tempting to change the plan when something goes awry, but until we go to a win-loss record qualification for NCAA championships, we will not change the plan."
"The plan today was to rest certain student-athletes, such as Monique De La Torre and Olivia Courtney, so that their minor injuries do not become chronic," Kondos Field continued. "Had it been championship season, we would have had a different lineup in the mix. But I feel it's very important to give our depth the opportunity to compete. Talia came through beautifully on floor and beam, even though she had a fall on beam. This was the first time she's ever competed on beam for us. It was really tempting to change the lineup to be able to pull out a win, but we believe in sticking with the plan for the course of the season. And I felt we made improvements this week even though our final team score doesn't represent those improvements."
