BATON ROUGE- The 13th-ranked LSU gymnastics team, fresh off a sweep at its four-way opener at Michigan State last weekend, returns to Baton Rouge for its 2000 home opener Friday evening at 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against SEC rival Kentucky.
“We’re excited to compete on our home floor in front of our home fans,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “To open up with an SEC team in the home opener is doubly exciting.”
The Tigers (3-0) took a convincing 194.400-192.625 decision over Kentucky (0-0) at Lexington in the last dual-meet between the two schools last January. Abbey Burns picked up victories on both the floor and beam.
LSU has dominated the all-time series between the two schools, owning a 38-3 overall record against the Wildcats.
Despite her overwhelming record against Kentucky, Breaux is still cautious entering Friday evening’s home opener.
“Kentucky is always a threat,” said Breaux. “Every team that comes into the PMAC always seems to have a great meet, there is such a great atmosphere here and it always brings out the best in our opposition. I don’t expect that to be any different on Friday night, so we need to be ready to go.”
Several Tigers opened the 2000 season in top form at Michigan State last weekend and will look to continue where they left off.
Kerry Descalopoulis led the Tigers on the floor and on the vault, while Stacey Wegener and Burns came up with strong outings on the beam, while Wegener also led the team on the bars.
After using her veteran line-up very conservatively in the victory at Michigan State last weekend, Breaux has indicated that she will be a little more aggressive with the use of some of the Tiger gymnasts.
The Tigers need to come together quickly, as following the Kentucky meet they will travel to No. 2 Georgia on Jan. 23, before returning home to face preseason No. 5 Utah and current No. 1 Alabama.