The Aggies have been having trouble on beam all season, and Friday’s quad meet at Sacramento State was no exception.
“Beam was not a good day,” said coach John Lavallee. “Three weeks in a row we kind of struggled on beam. Outside of beam, we had a good day.“
A 46.525 on the event – the second lowest of the season – led to the Aggies taking third in the four-way meet. Sac State (194.700) won, Cal took second (191.975) and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Seattle Pacific was fourth (187.225).
“I think this is a good learning experience for the team,” said junior Kendall McCann, “We have to work hard if we want to win conference and we are definitely capable of it. If we want it, we have to step up and do what we can do.“
The Aggies bounced back after their poor beam showing, scoring well on floor (48.675) and vault (48.425). The vault score was the highest of the meet as well as the season-high for UC Davis. Four Aggies – Adee Schoffman, Marcy Miller, Tanya Ho and Stacey Nicolini – tied for third with a score of 9.700.
“I really wanted to break 9.7 on vault this season,” Schoffman said, “and I did that today, so I felt really good about that.“
Schoffman started the meet off with a 9.500 on bars and posted a 9.750 on floor to help the team bounce back after beam.
“We kept it up for the first event (bars), then went into the second event (beam) and had a little trouble,” Schoffman said. “We counted three falls, so right after that we decided to come back really strong on floor. We all came together and decided we’re not going to crumble.“
Though overall sub-par, beam saw two strong performances from freshman Erika Van Dyke (9.750) and McCann (9.700). Van Dyke also scored a 9.675 on floor with McCann posting a 9.700 on bars and a 9.725 on floor.
“I was really excited about beam because beam has been getting a bit rough,” McCann said. “Our team as a whole bombed beam. I was happy with my beam because I fell twice last week and I just wanted to come back and do what I can do. I made a goal before to get a 9.7 and it ended up happening like that, so I’m really excited it worked out perfectly.“
The highest individual score for the Aggies came on floor, with senior co-captain Andi Dolinsky posting a 9.800. It was her fourth 9.8 or better this season.
The Aggies will next look to defend their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in Colorado Springs, Colo. Mar. 20.
“I’m really excited about [the championships],” Van Dyke said. “It’s on my birthday, so hopefully it’ll be lucky. I’m really proud of the team and how well everyone is doing. We’re just going to keep fighting and finish the season on a positive note.“
ALEX WOLF-ROOT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
