BATON ROUGE — The No. 7 LSU Tigers gymnastics squad will square off against No. 15 Auburn and West Virginia Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. tri-meet.
Tickets for the event are available online at www.LSUsports.net., over the phone at 225-578-2184 or in person at the LSU Ticket Office. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3-12.
In conjunction with “Daddy/Daughter Date Night,” a youth ticket will come free with the purchase of an adult ticket. Also, the first 500 fans arriving at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center will receive a Verizon Wireless string bag. In addition to these giveaways, a special performance by Bounce, a duo from the Great Moscow Circus, will highlight the post-meet activities. The group will perform stunts featuring acrobatics, jump roping and juggling shortly after the final rotation of the evening.
LSU enters the meet with a 6-1 record after defeating Kentucky, 195.075-191.200, last Friday for their first home SEC victory of the season. LSU scored their second highest total of the season against Kentucky in addition to breaking their season high on the bars with a 49.175.
“I think this will be an even meet,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “I have a lot of respect for Auburn and West Virginia. These teams have been scoring pretty close to what we are scoring on their best nights. We will be pressed. We will need to perform well on Friday.”
Auburn is 3-3 on the year and 0-3 in SEC action. They placed first in a quad meet last Friday, defeating North Carolina State, George Washington and Texas Women’s. The Tigers scored a season high 195.925 in that meet. Nationally, they are ranked No. 12 on the vault with a 48.900 average, No. 16 on the bars with a 48.587 average and No. 21 on the floor with a 48.619 average.
West Virginia, coming off an upset of No. 14 Penn State, is 5-5 on the season. Despite the win, the Mountaineers are unranked in this week’s national poll. However, the team is No. 24 in the nation on the floor with a 48.545 average.
The Tigers are led by All-SEC performer Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, a junior from Manchester, Conn. Clare-Kearney is No. 4 in the national all-around rankings with a 39.430 average. She is also ranked No. 4 on the vault with a score of 9.915.
LSU will also be looking for strong performances from Summer Hubbard, Kristi Esposito, Staci Schwitkis and Sabrina Franceschelli. All four had strong performances against Kentucky last Friday. Hubbard and Schwitkis shared the bars event title with Clare-Kearney, scoring identical 9.850s. Franceschelli broke her career high on the floor with a score of 9.850, taking home the event title. Esposito, the squad’s lone senior, won her first event title of the season on the beam, scoring a 9.850.
Against Auburn, LSU has posted a record of 57-10. LSU last defeated Auburn in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship in Morgantown, W.Va. last season. Coincidentally, LSU last defeated West Virginia in the same Regional Championships in 2007. Overall, LSU is 8-0 against the Mountaineers.
Following the tri-meet, the Tigers will face the University of Florida in a dual meet on Friday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. in Gainesville, Fla.