ASU Gymnastics: Sun Devils taken down by #10 Bruins at home

(Photo: Joseph Constantin/WCSN)

Arizona State lost to a deep UCLA team on Saturday morning in front of a crowd dressed in pink in the annual Pink Meet for breast cancer awareness.

The Gym Devils lost to the 10th ranked Bruins at home, scoring 194.250 points to UCLA’s 197.325.

Arizona State junior Stephanie Miceli was up first on vault and scored a 9.475. This was an unusually low score for Miceli who has been a strong competitor for the Gym Devils this season, competing in the all around every meet and never scoring lower than a 9.400 in a single event all season.

Nonetheless, Miceli was proud of her team and said that everyone is improving.

“Even though we might be short on lineups or have some people coming back from injuries, I think we’re doing a good job just focusing in on the good things,” Miceli said.

Junior Carissa Kraus, attempting a Yurchenko Full, landed short on her vault and was in visible pain as she had to be helped off the floor by a trainer. The Bruins countered with an impressive team performance on the uneven parallel bars; every athlete scored a 9.800 or higher.

Red-shirt senior Samantha Peszek, who is ranked No. 13 in the nation on bars, scored a 9.900 to help bring UCLA to a 49.350 at the end of the first rotation, topping ASU by a margin of 0.875.

The second rotation started off strong for the Gym Devils on the uneven parallel bars. Despite falling on her Tkatchev release move, junior Kristine Levin finished the routine by sticking her dismount and was awarded a 9.025. Carissa Kraus returned in the second rotation, overcoming her earlier injury with a 9.825 for the Devils posting the Gym Devils’ highest score on the event. Despite Kraus’ solid performance, UCLA gained ground on the vault, topping ASU once again as the teams moved into the third rotation.

Going into the third rotation, ASU was two full points behind and UCLA continued to impress as they moved on to the floor exercise. Arizona State performed well on the balance beam despite some noticeable wobbles, which cost them points and left them with a 48.475 on the event. Junior Allie Salas struggled, falling of the beam for the second week in a row and receiving a 9.125 as a result. Meanwhile, the Bruins continued to roll, accumulating a team score of 49.075 on the floor.

The Gym Devils took to the floor for the final rotation of the day.  Kristine Levin, who suffered a lower leg injury earlier in the season, returned to the floor exercise for the Gym Devils. Miceli kicked off the floor exercise for the Gym Devils with a dynamic routine and was awarded a 9.750 for her efforts. Levin also had a strong routine, marred only by a single step out of bounds on her first pass, which left her with a 9.450. Junior Taylor Allex and senior Natasha Sundby stood out on floor, earning scores of 9.850 and 9.800 respectively.

On the balance beam for the Bruins in their final rotation, junior Danusia Francis received a 9.950.  Francis is known for being the first gymnast to do a sideways side aerial to a layout full dismount off the side of the beam and she certainly stood out as she helped the Bruins post a 49.425 to close out the day.

When asked about the Gym Devils’ performance today, junior Taylor Allex was also proud of her team, but noted that she has room to improve individually.

“I think I could have done better,” Allex said.  “[On] beam I had wobbles and bars I pulled in a little bit on my release and vault wasn’t my best.”

ASU Head Coach René Lyst was proud of the team following the loss.

“It’s just about being consistent, not counting mistakes, trying to get better and trying to get some of our people back doing more difficulty,” Lyst said.

The Gym Devils will put in some work at the gym this week as they will look to improve in preparation for their next meet on March 6 against the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah University.  ASU defeated SUU earlier this season in Tempe.

 

You can contact the author via eMail at mrwitt@asu.edu.

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