Teams: UC Davis at California
Where: Haas Pavilion — Berkeley, Calif.
When: Sunday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Junior Katie Yamamura is entering the meet after receiving the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Athlete of the Week title, the result of an outstanding performance at Friday’s triangular meet at home.
She won the individual all-around after placing first or second in every event. Her score of 39.125 was a career best, as well as the third-highest all-around score in UC Davis history.
The award is her second this season and the sixth of her career.
Did you know? Sunday will be the fourth time in five meets that the Aggies have competed against a team in the Pac-12 Conference.
Preview: After a heartbreaking defeat to Cal at home on Friday, UC Davis will travel to Berkeley this weekend for a chance at redemption.
The Aggies led through three rounds last week before being narrowly defeated 191.750 to 191.600 in the fourth and final round of action.
But UC Davis has been quick to put the disappointment behind in order to look ahead to the upcoming rematch.
“We’re using… those [times] in practice to get to the next level,” head coach John Lavallee said. “We’re starting to zoom in on some finer things, like steps on landings… we’re starting to really put a performance out there.”
After losing to Cal by a margin of only 0.150 points, the Aggies will need to have a tight performance on Sunday in order to surpass the Golden Bears. That means eliminating a lot of the small mistakes that UC Davis has seen in its last couple of meets.
“We’ve been counting some falls in the scores. We really need to get those cleaned up,” said Lavallee. “That’s the next step.”
If the Aggies can see improvement in this area, they have a strong chance of capturing their third win of the season on Sunday.
“We know we’re going to be very closely matched with Cal,” said Lavallee. “It’s our last chance of the season and it would be nice to return the favor and beat them at home.”
