BATON ROUGE — The eighth-ranked LSU gymnastics team wraps up its regular season SEC slate this Friday when it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on No. 4 Alabama. The meet will begin at 7:30 p.m. from UA’s Coleman Coliseum.
The Tigers (7-5, 3-2 SEC) will look to build off their most impressive outing of the season to date as they notched a season-high 197.050 and came within .150 points of knocking off No. 1 Florida last Friday in the PMAC.
“On Friday I think the level of competition pushed us to a higher level,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “That meet was part of the maturing process for this team and it was also a product of their hard work.”
LSU’s hard work in the practice gym paid dividends on the floor of competition against UF as the team set season highs on the bars and beam and went 49.100 or better or each of the four events for the first time this season. Breaux believes that same effort and performance level will be needed this weekend if they want to upset the perennial national power Crimson Tide.
“Alabama is a huge rival so I don’t think the team will have any problem getting up for the meet,” said Breaux. “But competing with the intensity (that we had against Florida) is what we want to do every time from here on out.”
LSU will have to do its best gymnastics to compete with an Alabama team that is 5-2 on the season and 3-2 in the SEC, with it’s only loses of the year coming to No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Georgia.
The Tide has notched a high score of 197.425 this year and is averaging a 196.414 on the season.
Alabama leads the all-time series with LSU, 73-12-2, and has won the last four meetings between the two squads. The Tigers last defeated the Tide at the 2005 SEC Championships by a score of 196.975 to 196.700.
To secure a victory LSU will lean heavily on its talented trio of all-arounders, in seniors Kelly Phelan and Nicki Butler and junior Ashleigh Clare-Kearney. Each is ranked among the NCAA’s top 20 in the all-around as Phelan paces the group with a No. 8 national ranking and Butler and Clare-Kearney follow in 17th and 18th, respectively.
Alabama will counter with U.S. Olympic silver medalist, Terin Humphrey, who is ranked 14th in the all-around.
Fans wanting to catch every minute of the LSU vs. Alabama action can do so by logging on to www.LSUsports.net. Members of the site’s GeauxZone will have access to a live audiocast of the competition. Sports announcer Lyn Rollins will handle the play-by-play duties, while former Tiger All-American Kelly Lea and Jewel Pollock will provide analysis.
Following the Alabama meet, LSU returns home to host No. 16 Penn State on Friday, March 9 at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.