Many teams schedule home openers against inferior squads to get an easy win to start the season.
That won’t be the case for the No. 24 LSU gymnastics team (0-2, 0-1), which welcomes No. 1 Florida (2-0, 1-0) to the PMAC in tonight’s priority point meet.
The Gators glided through their first two meets, posting scores of 196.925 and 196.775 in two wins.
The same luck hasn’t graced the Tigers, whose scores of 193.35 and 194.5 in two road losses this season have hardly dazzled.
The only time the Tigers posted a score under 195 last season was in their opening meet.
LSU coach D-D Breaux said it’s more important for the Tigers to focus on rebounding from two subpar scores and gaining consistency rather than focus on playing the No. 1 team in the nation.
“We figure we’re at the bottom of the hill, and we’re going to carry our flag to the top,” Breaux said.
Junior Ashley Lee said it’s difficult not to think about the early season losses with all the work the Tigers put in at practice, especially during two-a-days.
“It is frustrating to give it all you have and then not come out with the win,” she said. “But like D-D always says, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Lee said LSU should benefit from playing at home for the first time.
The Tigers won every home meet last season but haven’t had much luck in recent years against the Gators. LSU has lost three of its last four regular season meets against Florida.
“When you’re away, you have all those opposing fans,” Lee said. “Sometimes they can be pretty mean and boo you or clap when you fall. When you have your fans there cheering for you, it just makes it so much easier.”
Getting healthy can’t hurt LSU’s chances tonight. Senior Samantha Engle missed last weekend’s meet with an ankle injury and is questionable against Florida.
“Of course it would help us if she was in the lineup, but if she’s not, it gives us an opportunity to make some lemonade out of a lemon,” Breaux said. “If she can’t go in, somebody else has to go in, and they’ll get better because of it.”
LSU scored more than a point higher in its second meet than it did in its opener against then-No. 8 Oregon State. The Tigers lost by only .225 points last weekend at Auburn.
Sophomore Ericka Garcia said as long as LSU’s score keeps trending upward, the opposition doesn’t matter. She said getting nervous about playing the nation’s best can only make matters worse.
“We have to be more confident, and we are going to get there,” she said. “Every single week we’re going to get better and better.”
 
____
Contact Rowan Kaver at [email protected]