Teams: UC Davis at Air Force

Where: Cadet West Gym — Colorado Springs, Co.

When:  Saturday at 1 p.m.

Who to watch: Freshman Tiana Montell has become a strong presence on the team as a consistent all-around competitor.

Friday’s meet was the third time she has performed on all four events this season. The Hawaii native hit a 9.700 on the uneven parallel bars, a collegiate personal best.

Did you know? UC Davis and Air Force shared conference honors this week. Aggie junior Katie Yamamura and Falcon Katie Hawthorne were named co-recipients of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week award on Tuesday.

It is Yamamura’s third straight MPSF honor and her fourth of the season. A UC Davis gymnast has received the award five out of six weeks in 2012.

Preview: UC Davis travels to Colorado on Saturday to compete against MPSF rival Air Force.

The Aggies had a breakthrough performance last weekend against Sacramento State and Oregon State in which they increased their season high by over two points. The success came less than a week after a disappointing meet against California in which UC Davis counted multiple falls on its way to a substandard score.

“In sports, you reach the highest highs and lowest lows,” head coach John Lavallee said. “We had both in five days.”

The Aggies will be looking to improve on the uneven parallel bars on Saturday. The team has struggled on the event this season and needs to eliminate the falls that they’ve consistently been forced to count. Last weekend bars was the only event in which UC Davis was unable to tally at least 48 points.

If the Aggies can clean up their bar routines and maintain the improved level of performance they saw last week on beam, they will have a chance to set a second consecutive season high.

“We had a really good day [on Friday],”  said Lavallee, “but there’s still a lot left in the tank to see how good this team can be.”

— Kaitlyn Zufall XXX