(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Arizona State Gymnastics remains at home this weekend and welcomes fellow Pac-12 Conference competitor The University of California to Tempe.
The Sun Devils look to carry momentum off their win in last week’s meet, which brought them their first win in 21 years over UCLA.
The Sun Devils jumped five spots in the National Qualifying Scores (NQS) rankings this week, and are now up to No. 15.
The Golden Bears come into Tempe this weekend without an NQS ranking only because they haven’t yet competed on the road three times this year.
NQS scoring starts with taking a team’s six best scores – three coming from home meets and three being road meets. After collecting those scores, the highest score is eliminated, then the remaining five scores are averaged.
This score is used to qualify the top 36 teams for regionals. While they don’t have an NQS ranking (because of the aforementioned necessity of three road meets), the Bears still rank in the top 10 on average score, are 6-0, and currently sit atop the Pac-12. Three of their six wins have come over ranked adversaries: then-No.14 Oregon State, No. 19 Stanford and No. 3 Utah. ASU will need to be on point again this week if they want to keep up with the best team in the Pac-12.
The Sun Devils hold a 6-5 record over the Bears going back to 2010. Only a season ago, though, ASU lost in Berkeley by a score of 197.100 to 196.650. ASU’s most recent win was in 2020, where it won 197.200 to 195.475.
Cal comes to Tempe undefeated and off a win against the University of Arizona, where they won 197.575-196.025. The 197.575 is now their season-best of 2022, beating a score it posted at home against then-No.3 Utah.
Cal ranked No. 13 on vault, No. 5 on bars, No. 15 on the beam and No. 13 on floor last week. Its highest event score is 9.950 on all events, compared to ASU, who’s highest score is 9.950 on bars and floor, which was scored by sophomore Sarah Clark and sophomore Jada Mangahas.
Freshman Alex Theodorou holds the team’s highest vault score of 9.925, and senior Jasmine Gutierrez has the highest beam score at 9.900.
Cal is led by sophomore Andi Li, who has a total score of 236.300 and holds the team-high score on bars and floor. Behind Li is junior Nevaeh DeSouza, whose total score is 236.250 and holds the Bears’ best team score on the vault.
Senior Maya Bordas sits in third place with an average total score of 236.075 and has a team-high score on the beam. Behind Bordas are redshirt-senior Nina Schank and freshman Mya Lauzon with 176.475 and 137.025, respectively.
At the helm of Cal is co-head coach Justin Howell – the winningest coach in program history and the first to reach 100 wins at 159-113 overall.
Alongside him is Elisabeth Crandall-Howell, who has been with the program since 2012 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2014, and co-head coach in 2018.
With their historic win over UCLA a week ago, the Sun Devils find themselves with two award winners heading into the match with Cal. Sophomore Emily White won the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Week award, and junior Hannah Scharf won the Coaches Choice award.
Scharf also boasts the second-highest NQS in the country with a score of 39.405.
The Sun Devils will take on the Bears on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 5:00 P.M MST.
