Teams: UC Davis vs. Sacramento State; Eastern Michigan
Where: The Pavilion
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
Who to watch: Senior Lida Gehlen leads the 1-2-3 UC Davis sweep on bars with a 9.815 Regional Qualifying Score.
No other Mountain Pacific Sports Federation gymnast has scored higher than 9.800 in that event.
This score has bumped the Sun City, Calif. native into a tie for 10th in the West region with Stanford’s Alyssa Brown.
Did you know: According to the Mar. 1 RQS rankings at www.troester.com, UC Davis checks in at No. 41 after defeating Sacramento State in last week’s meet.
The top 36 teams – determined on Mar. 29 – will advance to NCAA regional meets.
Preview: In last week’s triangular meet with Sacramento State and San Jose State, UC Davis hit a season-high road score of 193.750.
The Aggies wedged their way in between the two Western Athletic Conference rivals, edging the Hornets (193.550) but falling to the Spartans (194.550).
Coach John Lavallee said the points were all that mattered, though.
“I always base our performance on meeting our goals for the meet,” Lavallee said. “Our goals are never to set out to win or lose. Had we had that performance and come in third place, we would have been just as satisfied. So getting the win over Sacramento State is a bonus.
“But in the big picture, when it comes to things we can control, we took care of business. We went in, did our job and had another great meet.”
This week, the Aggies will face the Hornets again, the third matchup of the year.
The Aggies know exactly what they want.
“This will be the last time we see [Sacramento State],” said senior Tanya Ho. “We’ve beat them twice already, but we want to make sure we beat them again.”
“I have a feeling Sac State will come into the gym looking for revenge,” Lavallee said. “I would be. If we can raise the bar and have a couple of season-high performances, that could go a long way in securing a top-36 spot in the RQS standings.”
– Grace Sprague
