BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU gymnastics team opens up its home schedule Friday when it hosts Illinois in a dual meet at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers (3-3) are coming off a dominating 194.875-192.525 win over Iowa last week, a meet that saw LSU not only pick up the team victory but also claim each of the meet’s five individual titles.
Illinois enters the meet 0-1 on the year after opening the season with a 194.025-191.025 loss to Missouri last week.
“I respect what Illinois is doing and I think they are a team that is capable of scoring much higher than what they did in their season opener,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I fully expect them to come in here and have a great meet.”
Breaux is expecting the same from her team even as she continues to modify the lineup in an effort to get each athlete valuable competitive experience.
“We are still trying to use a lot of people in the lineup so that we can begin to make lineup choices based on how they perform in competition,” said Breaux. “We also want to stress consistency and the elimination of big deductions. I didn’t really press those issues in the first two meets because this team is young and still trying to find its rhythm, but now its time.”
Breaux hopes the younger members of her squad can begin to build off the consistency and leadership that has been provided by junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and senior Kelly Phelan in the first two meets of the season.
Clare-Kearney, the reigning SEC Gymnast of the Week, is ranked nationally on the vault and in the all-around and is coming off an all-around victory against Iowa last week.
Phelan was just off Clare-Kearney’s pace against the Hawkeyes, finishing second in the all-around and first on the floor. She is also ranked nationally on the vault heading into Friday’s competition.
The Tigers will still be without the services of freshman Susan Jackson and possibly junior Kristi Esposito. Jackson is continuing to treat a sprained ankle suffered after the Super Six Challenge, while Esposito is still recovering from an illness that kept her out of the Iowa meet.
Breaux will likely look to freshman Summer Hubbard and Sabrina Franceschelli to again help fill some of those voids in the lineup. In addition, junior Emily Ellis, who has competed on just the vault in the first two meets of the season, should see more competition time.
Following the Illinois meet, the Tigers continue their three-meet home stand as they open up SEC competition against Arkansas next Friday, Jan. 26, in the PMAC.