No. 10 LSU to host No. 18 UK in showdown
The No. 10 LSU Gymnastics team returns to action tonight when they face No. 18 Kentucky for a Southeastern Conference battle in the PMAC at 7 p.m.
Coming into their final regular season meet at home, the Tigers are 5-6 overall and 2-1 in SEC action but riding in on an impressive victory last week against No. 21 Iowa.
UK (7-4, 1-2 SEC) is coming off its first SEC win with a 196.000-194.025 victory over Auburn last week.
The Wildcats scored the second-highest totals of the season last week on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
Individually, Julie Joy leads UK in the national and regional rankings. Her average on the uneven bars of 9.855 has her ranked 17th in the country and fourth in the Central Region, while she is ranked 12th on the floor exercise and 13th on the vault regionally.
Joy’s teammate Jessie Lemp is ranked regionally on the bars at ninth and 16th in the balance beam. On the vault, Julia Gore stands ninth in the region.
“This is going to be a tough meet,” said Kentucky head coach Leah Little. “Whenever you meet an SEC team on the road, you have your hands full. This is a very good LSU team, but we are excited by our performances the past few weeks. This team now knows it capabilities and will look to continue improving.”
The Tigers meanwhile bring a slew of talent to the floor with the return of All-American Nicki Arnstad from injury.
Along with the return of Arnstad the Tigers bring a bevy of talented athletes in Marina Degteva, Beth Boudreaux, Sharene Mamby and freshman phenom Lauren Campioni.
Campioni comes into this meet having won or shared five individual titles over these last three weeks while Degteva, Boudreaux and Mamby have provided a consistent supporting cast so much that both Degteva and Boudreaux have won the SEC Athlete of Week for earlier impressive performances.
Despite being on a hot streak LSU head coach D-D Breaux is wary of the Wildcats.
“They’re definitely a much stronger opponent than they have been, and they come in with some solid wins under their belt so we know we’ll have to be sharp,” said Breaux. “We need to come up with a clean performance across the board and not look ahead by any mean. We travel to No. 1 Georgia next week but we need to keep our focus on Kentucky.”
The Tigers lead the all-time series with a 42 3 advantage over the Wildcats including ten straight decisions over them dating back to 1996.
After the Wildcats, LSU travels to Athens to face No. 1 Georgia in their final SEC match until the championships. Facing No. 1 teams has been a bit of an enigma for the Tigers as they have won their last three meets over then No. 1 ranked teams this season, most recently stunning Utah in week five.
Patrick Foy