BATON ROUGE — LSU’s gymnastics team opens both its home and SEC schedules Friday when it welcomes No. 12 Florida to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. dual meet.
“We are excited to open the home schedule with Florida,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “After a disappointing season opener at Michigan State, I feel like this is a great opportunity for the team to come in and redeem themselves.”
The Tigers (1-2, 0-0 SEC) are coming off a third-place finish at the season opening Michigan State quad meet last Friday. LSU notched just a 193.725 after having to count four falls towards its team score.
The Tigers will look to rebound from last week’s outing behind the all-around efforts of sophomore Kelly Phelan and junior April Burkholder. Phelan finished second in the all-around at Michigan State. Burkholder, the reigning SEC and NCAA Central Region Gymnast of the Year, won the floor and finished second on the bars last week.
Florida enters the meet with a 4-1 mark after opening the season with a 194.450 to finish second at the Super Six Challenge.
The Gators hold a 42-26 all-time series advantage over the Tigers, however LSU is 11-8 against Florida in the PMAC. LSU and UF split their two meetings during the 2004 season, as Florida won the regular season match up, 197.100-195.300, in Baton Rouge, and the Tigers defeated the Gators, 197.275- 197.225, at the SEC Championships.
Following Friday’s meet, the Tigers will once again hit the road, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jan. 21 for a dual meet with No. 16 Alabama.