The No. 3 LSU gymnastics team improved to 4-0 (2-0 Southeastern Conference) tonight with a dominating 197.350-192.675 victory in its SEC home-opener against the No. 27 Missouri Tigers tonight in the PMAC.
The LSU is now 29-6 all-time against Missouri, and hold a 13-0 record against Mizzou while at home.
LSU coach D-D Breaux felt as if LSU began the meet somewhat slow because they could not gain and retain momentum in the meet.
“I felt as if we would hurry up and stop, hurry up and stop,” Breaux said.
Having a crowd of 7,267 fans helped push LSU toward capturing early momentum in the meet tonight. Sophomore Sydney Ewing said it was a dream come true to be able to perform in front of a crowd that size. She put on a quality performance and ended the night with a score of 9.900 on beam and a 9.750 on vault.
Senior all-arounder Rheagan Courville captured her first all-around title of the season by posting a 39.625.
“It was amazing,” said Courville. “I feel like my confidence improved because of everyone around me. I don’t think I would have gotten better this week if it was not for the [rest of the team]. I really think they all play a huge part in my confidence going forward.”
She was trailed closely by sophomore all-arounder Ashleigh Gnat who, achieved four new season high scores including a 9.875 on vault, 9.700 on bars, 9.800 on beam, and a 9.950 on her floor routine. Three of the scores were also career highs for Gnat.
LSU also received help from junior all-arounder Randii Wyrick who was featured in her first two starting events tonight. Wyrick accumulated two impressive scores of 9.850 on floor and bars.
After some disagreeable scores early in the meet, the gymnasts seem to use the scoring as a momentum boost. Coach Breaux visited the scoring table midway through vault (LSU’s first event) to see if she could get some reasoning from the judges.
“I thought that Ashleigh Gnat absolutely nailed that vault,” Breaux said. “Maybe I missed something, but I thought she stuck the vault. She had incredible height, and great distance. I just disagreed with the score. Excellence is excellence and it needs to be rewarded.”
LSU concluded the night with strong beam and floor performances in their third and fourth events. LSU began on beam with senior floor specialist Lloimincia Hall posting a 9.825. LSU powerfully anchored beam with Courville (9.875) and senior Jessie Jordan, the nation’s No. 2 on beam, who landed a 9.925.
LSU again finished another meet with an astounding performance on floor. All six LSU starters completed their performances with scores above 9.800. Hall crushed her routine again, electrifying the PMAC and finishing with a solid 9.950.
Despite some controversial scores, the win still moved LSU to 4-0 for the season. They have improvements to make but coach Breaux sees this team as where they need to be going forward.
“Yeah, yeah we are,” said Breaux. “This team is healthy and fit. They work very hard [towards] their chemistry. They have an active floor presence, and how they present themselves to the fans. Big picture is that this team is going to work very hard, and not dig any holes this season. We are going to continue to move forward.”
The LSU Tigers will need to continue to have a big team presence before they head to the Metroplex Challenge against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Arkansas, and Iowa State on Jan. 31.
