BATON ROUGE — Fresh off of an impressive upset victory over Denver in Baton Rouge last week, the 11th-ranked LSU gymnastics team takes to the road to face No. 2 Alabama on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
The Tigers (2-1), will be making their third consecutive television appearance, as the meet will be broadcast by College Sports Southeast and replayed on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Alabama enters with an 8-1-1 record and suffered their first loss at No. 1 UCLA last weekend despite a season-high 196.975.
“This is a great test for such a young team, to be thrown into a hostile environment and see how they respond,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux.
“We’re a very good team and I think we proved it last week, but we’ll have to be particularly sharp on Friday night, there’s no margin for error, Alabama is just too good a team to make any mistakes.”
The Tide will have revenge on their mind after dropping a 196.325-196.250 decision to the Tigers in Baton Rouge last year when Alabama entered holding the No. 1 spot in the nation. Shanyn MacEachern nailed a 9.925 on floor to give the Tigers the victory in the final performance of the evening, LSU’s first victory over Alabama in a dual meet since 1982.
MacEachern’s ability, or inability, to compete this weekend will be critical in the Tigers’ bid for another upset. After having off-season shoulder surgery, the two-time vault All-American has been limited in action through the first three meets of the season.
The Tigers will need another strong meet from its trio of juniors, as Nicki Arnstad, Beth Boudreaux and Marina Degteva must all come up big on Friday night. Arnstad has already won three floor titles in as many opportunities this year, as well as an all-around title, while Boudreaux and Degteva are key three-event threats.
Sharene Mamby has returned from missing the 2000 season with an Achilles’ injury with a vengeance, having taken two bars titles in three meets, including a perfect 10.0 against Denver last week, the first of her career and first for a Tiger since 1997.
The Tide owns a decisive advantage in the all-time series, leading the regular season series 33-6-2.
Following the Tigers’ fourth straight meet against a ranked opponent, they return home next week to host Towson State, Centenary and Texas Woman’s University on Friday night at the PMAC at 7 p.m.