UCLA
San Jose State
UCLA Hosts San Jose State Saturday on Senior Day
March 12, 2021 | Gymnastics
No. 14 UCLA vs. San Jose State
Date/Time Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021 โ 2 p.m. PT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom)
Watch Online: pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Stats: uclabruins.com
UCLA HOSTS SAN JOSE STATE IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE
No. 14 UCLA (5-2) will host San Jose State (1-1) in the regular season finale in Pauley Pavilion, presented by Wescom, on Saturday, Mar. 13 at 2pm. The meet will be live streamed at pac-12.com/live/ucla. Fans are not permitted in the arena in adherence with state and county guidelines.
SENIOR SALUTE
Saturday's meet will be Senior Day for Bruin seniors Nia Dennis, Savannah Kooyman, Kendal Poston, Nicole Shapiro, Pauline Tratz and Lilia Waller. The class, which won a NCAA Championship as freshmen in 2018, as well as a pair of Pac-12 Championships, will be honored at the conclusion of the meet.
PRIDE MEET
The UCLA-San Jose State meet will also be the Bruins' annual Pride Meet, where they will continue to push for equality and allyship while celebrating and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA hit season-highs on vault (49.375) and floor exercise (49.450) but ran into a red-hot California team that recorded a school record team total in a 198.050-196.925 victory over the Bruins. Freshman Chae Campbell won the all-around with a career-high 39.625 and also recorded the maximum 9.95 for her Yurchenko layout full vault to capture first place on the event. Junior Margzetta Frazier posted her second-straight 39.5+ all-around score, going 39.525. Senior Pauline Tratz tied her career-high on floor exercise with a 9.950 to capture her first event win of the season.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Due to county-wide Covid-19 restrictions, San Jose State had a late start to the season and did not have its first meet until Feb. 27. The Spartans have only competed three times this season, including Wednesday, when they beat Stanford, 194.375-192.550. Lauren Macpherson led the Spartans in that meet with an all-around score of 38.950, including 9.8s on uneven bars and floor exercise, and Jada Mazury scored a career-best 9.875 on balance beam.
HOMECOMING FOR NEW SPARTAN SANCHEZ
Graduate transfer Mercedez Sanchez returns to Pauley Pavilion this weekend as a Spartan after four years as a Bruin. Sanchez graduated in 2020 and was part of UCLA's legendary senior class that won the 2018 NCAA Championship and 2018 and 2019 Pac-12 Championships. Sanchez transferred to San Jose State as a graduate student as is getting her master's degree in kinesiology with a sports studies concentration. She has competed in all of San Jose State's meets this season on balance beam and has a high of 9.775. She scored a season-high 9.750 on uneven bars in the Spartans' last meet.
CAMPBELL WINS THIRD PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF WEEK HONOR
Chae Campbell won her conference-leading third Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor this season. The Carrollton, Texas native won the all-around for the third time, scoring a career-high 39.625 at California. Campbell also won vault for the fourth time in 2021, recording the maximum possible score of 9.950 on her Yurchenko layout full vault. Her vault score helped the Bruins record a season-high team mark of 49.375. She also helped the team achieve a season-best 49.450 on floor exercise with her 9.925. Additionally, Campbell scored a career-high 9.875 on uneven bars and a 9.875 on balance beam.
PULLA POWER
Senior Pauline Tratz has been one of UCLA's most consistent athletes this season, averaging over 9.8 on vault and floor exercise. She has been especially hot on floor exercise in the last four meets, averaging 9.9 with a high of 9.95 last week at California. Perhaps even more impressive were her clutch performances on uneven bars in the first two meets of the season. With the Bruins short-handed on the event due to injuries, Tratz was pressed into duty for the first time in her collegiate career. In each meet, she was put in the anchor position and under pressure to hit due to a fall from an earlier competitor. She hit each time, scoring 9.65 in the opener and improving to 9.775 the following week at Arizona.
IT'S JANET, MISS JACKSON ...
Junior Margzetta Frazier received the call of a lifetime on Feb. 19 before the Bruins competed at Utah. On the line, on FaceTime, was none other than superstar Janet Jackson. A week earlier, Jackson had shared Frazier's new Janet Jackson floor routine to her social media, helping Frazier's routine go viral. Jackson also posted video of her call, where she told a tearful Frazier that she inspired her and that she would like her to teach her some gymnastics. Frazier has since been featured on Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood.
Frazier has done it all for the Bruins this season, competing in the all-around in every meet. She has scored 39+ in each meet, with a high of 39.550 set while winning the all-around against Oregon State. She leads the team with 11 9.9+ scores and has a team-high three victories on uneven bars. Frazier currently ranks 18th in the nation in the all-around and sixth on uneven bars.
DENNIS BREAKS THE INTERNET ... AGAIN
For the second time in as many years, and after her first performance of her new floor exercise routine, Nia Dennis went viral. Dennis' routine celebrating black culture picked up steam in a hurry after it was posted to social media the day after the Bruins' season opener. Within an hour, it went viral, and the video currently has 11M views on Twitter alone. Her routine was shared by the likes of Michelle Obama, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Common and Kerry Washington. Dennis made a repeat visit to The Ellen Show and appeared on the Today Show, the NBA on TNT and Access Hollywood. Last season, Dennis' Beyonce routine also went viral, as did a TikTok video of her hitting the woah in her routines.
Dennis is not resting on her internet fame. She recorded a career-high 39.475 in the all-around this season and is the only Bruin to score 9.9 or higher on all four events, with a pair of 9.95s on floor. She is also tied for the team lead in individual victories with 10. Dennis is a nominee for this year's AAI Award, presented to the top senior in the nation.
FRESH STARS
Although more than half of UCLA's expected freshman class did not make it to campus this year as they pursued Olympic berths, the three freshmen who are in Westwood are making a huge impression on the Bruin team. All three freshmen have received a Pac-12 weekly honor this season, with Chae Campbell winning Freshman of the Week honors three times, Frida Esparza winning once, and Sara Ulias receiving the Coaches Choice award.
Campbell has become an all-around force, recording a high of 39.625 in her last meet twice and ranking 17th in the nation. She already has career-bests of 9.925 or better on vault, beam and floor, along with a 9.875 on bars, and has 10 individual titles. Esparza has two uneven bars victories and won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors after her first meet, during which she won bars with a 9.9 and scored 9.8 on beam. Esparza improved upon her beam score the following week, scoring 9.9. Ulias made her competitive debut on Feb. 10 against BYU, scoring 9.725 on uneven bars and improved her score to 9.875 in a second-place finish at Utah and 9.925 with a third-place results against Oregon State. She also debuted on floor exercise on Feb. 14, scoring 9.725.
SENIORS SHINING
Bruin seniors Nia Dennis, Savannah Kooyman, Kendal Poston and Pauline Tratz have been rock solid this season, hitting a combined 54-for-57. Dennis has scored 9.8 or higher on all but four routines and leads the Bruins with three 9.95 scores. Kooyman is averaging 9.796 on bars with a high of 9.850 set Feb. 27. Poston averages 9.836 on vault, twice scoring a high of 9.875, and has scored a high of 9.875 on beam as the leadoff at Utah on Feb. 19. Tratz averages over 9.8 on her two main events, with a high of 9.85 as the leadoff vaulter and a career-high-tying 9.95 on floor last weekend. She has also competed on uneven bars twice - her first times competing on the event in college - and hit both routines, with a high of 9.775.
FLOORED BY FLOOR
UCLA's floor exercise lineup has turned heads in a big way, with not just one but two routines going viral, plus another one gaining attention from national media. The Bruins are ranked ninth nationally on floor and averaging 49.246, with a high of 49.450 set a week ago. All six of the floor regulars have career-highs of 9.875 or better, and four have career-bests of 9.950 or better. Nia Dennis, whose floor routines have gone viral in each of the last two years, has scored 9.95 twice this season with her routine she calls "The Culture", and she has a career-best of 9.975, set a year ago. Margzetta Frazier went viral with her Janet Jackson routine, scoring a season-high of 9.925 the first time she competed the new routine. She has a career-high of 9.950 and is currently averaging 9.893 this season. Chae Campbell averages a team-high 9.908 on floor, the only Bruin with a season average of 9.9 or better, and her career-best 9.95 routine at Utah was shared by SportsCenter. Pauline Tratz has scored 9.95 once and 9.9 twice this season and is averaging 9.854. Sekai Wright's 90's Boy Band routine has become a fan favorite, and she has scored a career-best 9.875 twice on the routine. Emma Andres has scored as high as 9.825 this season and has a career-high of 9.875.
VAULTING UP
The Bruins have had their best vault rotations of the season the last two weeks. Against Oregon State on Feb. 27, they stuck five of six vaults to score 49.225. Nia Dennis earned a season-best 9.925 to win the event. Margzetta Frazier (9.850), Emma Andres (9.825), Pauline Tratz (9.800) and Chae Campbell (9.800) also stuck their Yurchenko layout fulls, and Kendal Poston had a small hop on her handspring pike front half, scoring 9.825. Andres' vault was her first one this season, and it set a new career-high for her. The Bruins improved their season-high a week later at Cal, scoring 49.375, thanks to a perfect 9.95 score from Campbell and a second-straight 9.925 from Dennis. The pair have team-high season averages of 9.868. The Bruins have scored 49.1 or higher on vault in six of seven meets.
RAISING THE BAR
The Bruins' uneven bars squad had a huge performance on Feb. 27, scoring 49.550, the team's highest event score on any event this season and UCLA's highest bars score since Apr. 6, 2019. UCLA's bar team was boosted by the return of Nia Dennis on Feb. 10. The 2019 first-team All-American has won bars twice this season, and she tied her career-high of 9.950 Feb. 27 against Oregon State. Also scoring 9.950 was Margzetta Frazier, who owns four 9.9+ scores on bars this season, including two consecutive 9.95s. Freshman Sara Ulias joined the 9.9 club with her career-high 9.925 Feb. 27. She has earned Top 3 finishes on bars in two of her last three meets. Frida Esparza has also excelled on the event, winning bars twice with scores of 9.9. At the top of the lineup, Chae Campbell scored a career-high 9.875 last weekend, and Savannah Kooyman has a season-best of 9.850. The Bruins have scored 49.1 or higher in each of their last five meets.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA sits at No. 14 in the national rankings, which are now based on National Qualifying Score (NQS). The NQS this season is calculated by average of the four highest scores, two of which must be on the road. The Bruins rank No. 9 on floor, No. 12 on vault, No. 13 on bars and No. 20 on beam.
Players Mentioned
