Two of the best teams in the country, the No. 2 LSU Tigers and the No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, are set to face off in Norman, Oklahoma, for the second time this season. During the first matchup, the Tigers fell short in a tiebreaker, sending them into the season 0-1.
Friday marks the first time the Tigers will travel to Norman to face the Sooners since 2014. LSU enters the meet with a record of 11-24 all time and 2-1 on the road against Oklahoma.
“This meet’s going to be huge for the sport. I mean, you don’t get to see one and two out on the floor very often, so we’re going to do the best that we can to just be us,” spoke Senior Ashley Cowan on how the team feels heading into this week’s matchup.
Head Coach Jay Clark stressed early on this week that in order for either team to come out on top, they’ll need to maintain and stay in control of only the things they can.
“There’s no defense. They can’t tackle us, and we can’t tackle them,” Clark said. “It’s going to come down to each team doing what they do and so, for us, we have about 10 or 12 things that are within our control, and the rest of it is not.
The Sooners currently grip onto the No. 1 spot in both vault and beam, with standout sophomore Addison Fatta recently earning the title of the best vaulter in the country. After losing three key veteran leaders last season, the Sooners are carried by their underclassmen. Fatta also sits at No. 2 in the all-around, which will pose as the perfect matchup for LSU’s star all-arounder Kailin Chio, who holds the No. 3 spot.
During last week’s meet, Chio secured three event titles on top of her all-around title on Friday, claiming vault, beam, and floor titles. She was also recently named SEC Gymnast of the Week, marking her third of the season and 12th of her career.
Junior floor standout Kylie Cohen spoke on how the team plans to manage the added pressure leading into a top 2 matchup.
“We’re not going to train harder or less for whoever is on the floor with us. It’s just going to be our normal every single day, so I’m just excited for another week of competition.”
Cohen stated that the team has changed nothing about their usual preparedness simply because of the Sooners rankings.
During last Friday’s meet against Auburn, LSU was able to finish with their highest score of the season with a 198.325, also the second highest nationally.
The Tigers are looking to build on this momentum for the meet and utilize it for the postseason.
LSU will head to Norman with redemption on their minds as they are looking to gain another win before heading into the Southeastern Conference tournament. The meet is set to begin at 8 P.M. CT on ESPN2.
