The Aggies have proven to be consistent this season.
Every week they work hard in practice.
Every weekend they show up to meets and accomplish everything they set out to do.
And at the end of every weekend coach John Lavallee feels great about it.
“I’m unbelievably impressed by this team’s performance,” Lavallee said. “I say that every week. But now the stakes are higher. It’s the end of the season and things are more intense. We’re working very hard to position ourselves to get into the NCAA regional meet. Tonight’s performance will help us do that.”
On Friday UC Davis defeated both Sacramento State (192.300) and Eastern Michigan (192.700) with a team total of 194.250.
This score marked the fourth highest in school history and was an unanticipated outcome.
“We’re at week eight in the quarter,” Lavallee said. “It’s a heavy academic work load this week. The kids are working hard and they’re very tired. I was very cognizant of the fact that we might have a rough go at it, but I was really impressed by how they picked themselves up.”
Fatigue didn’t show Friday night as UC Davis posted the second-highest scores in program history on both uneven parallel bars and balance beam.
Marcy Miller tied her personal best scores in both events with a 9.775 on bars and 9.825 on beam.
“It was really good to see,” Lavallee said. “Marcy is making huge strides this year in her ability to perform consistently at a high level.”
Her score on beam landed her at third behind Sacramento State’s Cayla Boyce and Eastern Michigan’s Kaylyn Millick who tied for first with a 9.850 mark.
Miller also took third on bars as Tanya Ho and Lida Gehlen tied for first with a 9.800 score to lead the sweep on the event.
Michelle Bobonski tied Millick for first on vault with a 9.775, helping UC Davis to a final 48.425 on that event.
Ho took second in the all-around with 38.850 points as Katie Yamamura and Kendall McCann made their way into the fourth and fifth spots with 38.775 and 38.500 scores, respectively.
Not only that, but UC Davis went 24 for 24 – the second time this has happened in the regular season this year. No Aggie score dipped below a 9.300, which helped the team tie its season-best.
The meet was the third time this season that the Aggies have faced and defeated the Hornets for the Causeway Classic challenge.
UC Davis is next in action on Sunday when it faces Texas Woman’s and California in the Pavilion at 2 p.m.
“We’ve been talking this whole second half of the season about finishing strong,” Lavallee said. “We’re in a very important stretch right now and we need to get a couple big performances like tonight’s.”
GRACE SPRAGUE can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
