No. 11 UCLA vs. No. 17 Washington
Monday, Feb. 9 - 6pm PT, Pauley Pavilion
TV: Pac-12 Networks (Jim Watson, Amanda Borden)
Live Stats - uclabruins.com
Monday Night Gymnastics
No. 11 UCLA (3-1) hosts No. 17 Washington (4-2) on Monday, Feb. 9 in Pauley Pavilion for a Monday Night Gymnastics matchup on Pac-12 Networks.
Tickets and Promotions
Tickets for the UCLA-Washington meet are on sale now at the UCLA Central Ticket Office. Reserved tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for youth (16 and under), while general admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth. UCLA students are free with ID and eligible to win a raffle prize each home meet. This week, there are two raffle prizes available for students - an iPad Mini and a GoPro. Additionally, the first 800 UCLA students will receive free frozen yogurt from Yogurtland. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a UCLA Gymnastics team photo card.
Follow Live
Live stats will be available at uclabruins.com. Live updates can be found on Twitter: @UCLAGymnastics.
In the Rankings
UCLA is tied for 11th overall with Auburn and ranks seventh on vault, 22nd on bars, 10th on beam and 14th on floor. Washington ranks 17th overall and on bars, 13th on beam and 16th on floor.
Individually, Samantha Peszek ranks No. 1 in the nation on beam (9.917 average) and No. 2 in the nation in the all-around (39.588). She also ranks sixth on bars (9.906), 13th on vault (9.908) and 16th on floor (9.875).
About the Huskies
Washington is coming off a big win at the Oregon State quad meet last weekend during which the Huskies scored a season-high 196.300. Junior Allison Northey won the all-around with a career-best 39.450 and now ranks 11th in the nation with an average of 39.325.
The Series with Washington
UCLA leads the all-time regular season series with Washington, 58-3. The two teams faced each other twice last season, with UCLA winning the dual meet in Seattle, 196.675-195.650, and UCLA finishing ahead of Washington at the Pac-12 Championships.
Bruins Score Season-Best vs. Cal
UCLA delivered super performances in a 196.800-195.425 dual meet victory over No. 21 California on Super Bowl Sunday. Christine Peng-Peng Lee scored 9.95 on both uneven bars and balance beam, and Sadiqua Bynum earned a career-high 9.925 on floor exercise to capture event victories. The Bruins' team score was a new season-high, as was their uneven bars total of 49.375. Eleven Bruins recorded 15 scores of 9.8 or higher.
Lee Earns Pac-12 Specialist Honors
Redshirt sophomore Christine Peng-Peng Lee was named the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week after recording a pair of 9.95s on bars and beam in the Bruins' dual meet win over California. Lee's uneven bars score included a perfect 10 from one of the two judges and helped the Bruins earn a season-high team score of 49.375 on the event. On balance beam, she anchored the event and led the team to a score of 49.2, an over one-point improvement over last week's mark. Lee's 9.95s established new career-highs. She has scored 9.9 or higher on three of four bars routines this season.
Peszek Power
Fifth-year senior Samantha Peszek has been lights out this season, averaging 39.588 in two all-around performances and scoring 9.85 or better on every routine. In the season opener, she scored 39.55 to win the all-around at Oregon State. In the home opener vs. Arizona, she recorded a 9.975 on bars, 9.95 on beam and 9.875 on vault to win all three events in which she competed. At Utah, she won the all-around with a season-high 39.625 and had first-place finishes on bars (9.9) and beam (9.95) and was named Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week. She competed just one event last week while nursing a tight calf muscle and scored 9.875 on bars to place third. Peszek, the nation's No. 1-ranked gymnast on beam, has nine of a possible 14 victories this season and has placed in the Top 3 on every event in which she has competed.
Lee Makes Long-Awaited Return
Nearly three years after her last competition, redshirt sophomore Christine Peng-Peng Lee made her highly-anticipated collegiate debut at Oregon State on Jan. 12. Lee showed zero signs of rust, winning two events and placing fourth in another. She stuck every dismount and hit every skill in her difficult routines, scoring 9.9 to win bars, 9.825 on a stuck Yurchenko full vault, and 9.875 to tie for first on beam. Last week vs. Cal, she won both events in which she competed, scoring 9.95s on bars and beam. She has totaled five event wins this season, including three in four meets on bars. Lee tore ligaments in her knee in 2012 just before the Canadian National Championships and had two surgeries, one in 2012 and another in 2013.
Gerber Enjoying Breakout Season
Sophomore Mikaela Gerber has enjoyed a breakout season so far, with strong and consistent routines in each of her four meets. She has scored 9.8 on beam in three of four meets, including the last two in the leadoff position, and is averaging 9.769 on the event, third-best on the team. She averages 9.788 on floor, where she has scored 9.825 twice.
Francis. Danusia Francis
Junior Danusia Francis has set new career-highs in two of the last three meets. On Sunday against Cal, she recorded a new best on uneven bars, scoring 9.925 in the leadoff spot. On Jan. 19, she recorded a new personal best on floor with a 9.925 on her James Bond-themed routine to win the event for the first time in her career. Francis had a strong meet overall against Arizona, scoring 9.925 on beam and 9.775 on bars.
Bynum Beats Career Best
Redshirt junior Sadiqua Bynum earned a new career high on floor exercise, scoring 9.925 last weekend vs. Cal after hitting clean landings on her difficult tumbling passes, including her double layout opening pass. Bynum ranks second on the team in floor average with a 9.825 and third in vault average with a 9.858.
Walk-On Freshmen Impress
Walk-on freshmen LaNiesha-Jopré Irvin, Sonya Meraz and JaNay Honest have impressed this season with consistent performances. Irvin has stuck every vault she has performed this season and holds UCLA's second-best scoring average on the event with a 9.867. She has Top 3 finishes in each of her three meets and a high of 9.9. set at Utah. Meraz has UCLA's second-best beam average - 9.775 between exhibition and counting routines. She earned a high of 9.825 in exhibition vs. Arizona and scored 9.8 in her first counting beam routine last weekend. She also scored 9.825 on her floor debut vs. Arizona. Honest is averaging 9.800 on vault and has season-high marks of 9.825 on both vault and bars.
Honoring Bruin Greats with Legacy Routines
This season, several of UCLA's memorable floor exercise routines are coming back to life via current team members as they pay tribute to legacy of UCLA Gymnastics. Among these “legacy routines” are those done by Sadiqua Bynum, who asked to perform to Onnie Willis' sophomore year music, and Jennifer Pinches, who is recreating Lena Degteva's West Side Story routine. Freshman Sonya Meraz also has a routine previously done by Degteva, a 13-time All-American from 1997-2000. Willis, a 16-time All-American from 2000-03, was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame this year.
Bruins Performing Skills Named After Bruins
Another way in which UCLA Gymnastics greats are being honored is through skills being performed that bear their names. Christine Peng-Peng Lee performs two high-risk moves that are named after Bruins - the Homma Flairs on beam (named after Leah Homma, who captained UCLA's first-ever NCAA Championship team in 1997) and the Bhardwaj on uneven bars (named after Mohini Bhardwaj, who won four NCAA titles from 1998-2001). Additionally, Danusia Francis performs a Maloney on uneven bars (named after Kristen Maloney, who won five NCAA titles from 2001-05).
Bruin Banter
Samantha Peszek is back hosting her third season of Bruin Banter, a weekly web series that offers an inside look at UCLA Gymnastics. Each week, Peszek, who co-produces the show alongside team videographer Deanna Hong, interviews a team member and recaps the previous week's activities. New this season is a behind-the-scenes segment that provides a glimpse at the inner workings of the team. This week's episode features an interview with Sadiqua Bynum and an introduction to the UCLA Gymnastics Athletic Trainers.
Looking Ahead
UCLA travels to Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4pm. The meet will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.