The No. 5 LSU gymnastics team fell to Florida in a close battle on Friday in Gainesville, but the Tigers posted a high road score likely to help them on their road to nationals. The Gators topped the Tigers with a score of 198.150-197.825.
Going into the fourth rotation, the meet was once again tied with both teams at 148.350. Last week against Auburn, the Tigers came away victorious after taking away the tied meet with a school record floor performance. This week, they fell short as four Florida Gators scored a 9.95 or above on the floor.
The highlight of LSU’s final rotation on the beam was Kai Rivers who came in at the last minute to replace Haleigh Bryant after being pulled out of an abundance of caution for an injury that has been bothering her since the beginning of the season. Kai Rivers scored a 9.9 just as the Florida crowd was going wild over another high scoring floor performance.
The Tigers got things started on bars and improved last week’s score of 49.375 to 49.425. Though the change may seem insignificant when looking just at the numbers, this marks progress for the Tigers who want to continue to see improvements leading up to the postseason.
Three Tigers scored above a 9.9 on bars. Haleigh Bryant topped the scores with a career high of 9.95. Olivia Dunne and Sami Durante both scored 9.9s to help drop one of the 9.825s posted earlier.
LSU started to gain momentum on the vault with a 49.475. This score is also improving towards what fans saw at the beginning of the season.
Sarah Edwards scored a season high of 9.875 and very nearly had a stuck landing. Elena Arenas followed her score with a 9.85. KJ Johnson, the phenomenal freshman, performed again to match her career high of 9.9. Her consistency on this event cannot be overstated. She has scored a 9.9 every meet so far this year. Kiya Johnson set her new career high with a 9.95. Bryant anchored the rotation with a 9.9.
LSU gained more traction against Florida on the floor, and the meet was tied at the end of the rotation. The LSU floor team went 49.450.
Christina Desiderio opened with another great leadoff score with a 9.9. KJ Johnson matched her career high with a 9.95, and Aleah Finnegan, another freshman star, set a new high with a 9.9. Haleigh Bryant had trouble with this event likely due to her lasting injury. During her second pass, things started to go wrong, and she looked like she was in pain. She finished the routine but her injury was clearly bothering her. Kiya Johnson followed with a 9.85.
All of this led to the tied meet with the Tigers going to beam. They posted a 49.475 in a crazy environment as Florida fans loudly cheered on their high scoring floor routines.
Desiderio led off with a 9.875. She was followed by a fall from Sami Durante, which increased the pressure on the remaining gymnasts in the lineup. The next two gymnasts, Bridget Dean and Finnegan, both scored 9.875. Rivers was up next and in at the last minute for Bryant who was pulled by Clark as a precaution. She went 9.9 on the event, and Johnson finished the meet off with a season high of 9.95.
The Tigers are now 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the SEC this season, but this meet could help in their NQS score that determines how their postseason looks.
The Tigers are looking to rebound from this loss against Alabama Friday, Feb. 18 in the PMAC. Since they had to postpone two meets earlier in this season due to COVID-19, they will have two meets in three days. After taking on Alabama, they will head to take on Missouri and Arkansas in a tri-meet Sunday, Feb. 20.
