45.5 F
Davis

Davis, California

Friday, March 29, 2024

Gymnastics Preview

Teams: UC Davis vs. Alaska Anchorage

Where: The Pavilion

When: Friday at 7 p.m.

Who to watch: Sophomore Erika Van Dyke placed first on both balance beam and floor exercise with scores of 9.775 and 9.800 respectively to lead the Aggies to victory over Seattle Pacific on Friday.

The Sacramento, Calif. native received All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Honors on floor last year and was a recipient of one of the team’s Major Contributions awards.

Did you know? UC Davis is currently ranked first in the MPSF with an average team score of 191.435 after posting a season-high score of 194.250 against Seattle Pacific last week.

Preview: After a strong finish in the fifth week of competition, coach John Lavallee believes that the girls finally understand their true potential.

“It’s easy to sum up why we did as well as we did on Friday,” Lavallee said. “From Day One, this team has been very focused in practice about what they need to do to perform at that level in meets. We had fewer extra little steps and bobbles. On uneven bars, we were better with handstands and had better control on dismounts.”

The Aggies now prepare to host defending MPSF champion Alaska Anchorage in a dual meet on Friday.

Alaska posted 188.900 points two weekends ago in a quad meet at the Metroplex Challenge in Dallas, Texas. This score marked the season-best for the Seawolves.

The Aggies hope to continue their four-meet winning streak, while also looking to build momentum and points for the rest of the season.

“We talk continually about where we’re at and where we’re going,” Lavallee said. “The fact is we need to put a string of big scores together, which really would change the complexion of our program from a national standpoint. We’re already looking down the road three or four meets to see what we need to do.

“When we saw how talented, and more importantly, how motivated this team was, we started looking at those things. On Friday night [against Seattle Pacific], I think this team finally realized how good they are.”

– Grace Sprague

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