BATON ROUGE — Despite a raucous crowd of 4,369 fans cheering the Tigers on, the 14th-ranked LSU gymnastics team fell to No. 8 Georgia, 196.850-195.950, in the home opener at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday.
LSU fell to 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference and 5-1 overall. Georgia improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in SEC competition.
“We did compete tonight with some consistency,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We did a much better job on every event than we’ve done so far this season. Georgia stuck landings where we did not stick landings. It was a tight meet for the first two events and we gave away serious tenths on beam.”
The Tigers started the evening on vault by posting a 49.225. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney shared the event title with the GymDogs’ Courtney Kupets with a score of 9.950. Clare-Kearney has now captured 90 event titles as a Tiger.
LSU moved to bars for the second event of the night where they posted a 48.975. Kupets took the event title with a 9.925, but LSU’s Clare-Kearney took second with a 9.875. Tiffany Tolnay took third for Georgia.
The Tigers were not far behind Georgia as they trailed the GymDogs after the first two rotations, 98.475-98.200.
In the third rotation, the Tigers took to beam with determination to gain some ground on Georgia. LSU notched a 48.800 on that event with a strong performance from All-American Susan Jackson who posted a 9.850. However, the GymDogs took the beam title with a 49.300.
For the final event of the evening, the Tigers wrapped up the dual meet on floor by scoring 48.950. Kupets took the event title, posting a 9.875. Jackson and Kayla Rogers tied for second notching a 9.850. Georgia took the floor title with a score 49.075.
Individually, Kupets took the all-around title posting a 39.650. Tolnay placed second with a 39.400. LSU’s Jackson placed third with a total score of 39.300.
The Tigers’ overall score beats their pervious season high of 194.900 which they scored at the Cancun Classic on Jan. 2.
LSU will travel next week to face Kentucky on Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. CST.
MEET RESULTS
Team
1. Georgia ? 196.850 (VT ? 49.300, UB ? 49.175, BB ? 49.300, FX ? 49.075)
2. LSU ? 195.950 (VT ? 49.225, UB ? 48.975, BB ? 48.800, FX ? 48.950)
Individual
All-Around ? 1. Courtney Kupets 39.650; 2. Tiffany Tolnay 39.400; 3. Susan Jackson 39.300; 4. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 38.975; 5. Sabrina Franceschelli 38.950
Vault ? t1. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 9.950; t1. Courtney Kupets 9.950; t4. Susan Jackson 9.850; 6. Gloria Johnson 9.825; t7. Sabrina Franceschelli 9.800; t7. Staci Schwitkis 9.800; 12. Kayla Rogers 9.750
Bars ? 1. Courtney Kupets 9.925; 2. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 9.875; t5. Samantha Engle 9.800; t5. Summer Hubbard 9.800; t10. Sabrina Franceschelli 9.750; t10. Susan Jackson 9.750; 13. Staci Schwitkis 9.725
Beam ? 1. Courtney Kupets 9.900; t3. Susan Jackson 9.850; 7. Sabrina Franceschelli 9.775; t8. Samantha Engle 9.750; 10 Gloria Johnson 9.725; 11 Summer Hubbard 9.700; 12 Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 9.325
Floor ? 1. Courtney Kupets 9.875; t2. Susan Jackson 9.850; t2. Kayla Rogers 9.850; t4. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney 9.825; t6. Samantha Engle 9.800; t10. Sabrina Franceschelli 9.625; t10. Summer Hubbard 9.625