BATON ROUGE — The fifth-ranked LSU gymnastics team travels to Gainesville for the second time in three weeks on Friday night, this time for a dual meet at No. 16 Florida.
The Tigers finished fifth at the Super Six Challenge at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on Jan. 11, but will look to build upon last weekend’s breakout win against Auburn. The Tigers came up with an impressive 196.200-194.775 victory over Auburn last Friday. It marked the earliest point in a season that LSU has ever reached the 196-point barrier.
“We had a great outing against Auburn last week, but now we need to get it done on the road,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “Two weeks ago we started off terribly but rebounded and finished the meet well. Florida is a tough place to come in and win, so if we want to come out on top this weekend, we have to show up from the start.”
Florida leads the all-time series between the two schools by a count of 29-18, but the Tigers picked up a dramatic win in their last dual meet a year ago, taking a 196.475-195.625 decision in Baton Rouge.
The Gators took their SEC opener as well last weekend, traveling to Lexington and coming away with a 194.400-193.350 victory over Kentucky.
Critical to the Tigers’ success will be consistency on bars and beam. The Tigers struggled on both in Gainesville two weeks ago, but used each to catapult them to victory against Auburn. LSU registered a score of 49.450 on bars last weekend, the second highest score in the nation in 2002.
The Tigers will also continue to ride Nicki Arnstad’s hot streak, as the senior has already won four individual titles in two weeks. Arnstad posted only the second perfect 10.0 on floor in LSU history at the O’Connell Center two weeks ago. She followed that by taking the floor, bars and all-around titles in the Tigers’ victory over Auburn last Friday.
Following the Gainesville trip, the Tigers return home for a pair of key match-ups. No. 2 Utah comes to the Maravich Assembly Center next Friday, while No. 8 Alabama comes to Baton Rouge on Feb. 8. Two years ago each team came to Baton Rouge ranked No. 1 in consecutive weeks and the Tigers became the first team in NCAA history to defeat top-ranked teams in consecutive weeks.