BATON ROUGE – After increasing the team score by nearly one full point last week, the 16th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will look for more consistency as the Tigers play host to No. 11 Auburn Friday at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Friday’s meet will mark Kids Night when Dora the Explorer will be on hand presented by Team LSU partner Verizon Wireless. Dora will be available for pictures from 5:30-7 p.m. near the southwest corridor on the upper concourse of the Maravich Center.
The first 200 kids at the meet will also receive free cotton candy.
“We are down in numbers, but we are still very strong,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “I am very confident the people we have healthy are ready to go, and we saw a tremendous amount of improvement and maturity on the floor at our last outing.”
LSU (2-2, 0-1 SEC) scored a 195.350 at the Lady Luck Invitational to raise the season average to a 194.862, but the Tigers still trail Auburn’s average of 195.262.
LSU holds a big advantage over Auburn (0-2, 0-1) in the all-time series with a 60-11 record, but Auburn won the dual meet in Auburn last season, 196.575-195.300.
Looking for its first SEC victory, LSU will rely on the four All-American seniors, including Susan Jackson, the nation’s No. 1-ranked all-arounder.
At the Lady Luck Invitational LSU tallied a 49.375 on vault and a 49.275 on bars, the top vault score in the country and the second-highest bars score.
Senior Sabrina Franceschelli and sophomore Ashley Lee both posted a career-high 9.90 on vault, and senior Summer Hubbard holds the nation’s top bars score with a 9.95 that she tallied at the Lady Luck Invitational.
Auburn is led by all-arounders Kylie Shields and Krissy Voss as well as Allyson Sandusky, the only gymnast on the team who has posted a score of 9.90. Sandusky ranks 10th nationally on bars with a 9.862 average, and Shields is 15th on beam with a 9.837 average.
LSU will compete with nine gymnasts against Auburn as freshmen Kaleigh Dickson, Ericka Garcia and Lainie Fleming are still out, and redshirt sophomore Nikki Lyons will miss her second meet with an ankle injury.
“I expect this team to get better and better each week even with the injuries, and we are looking for more consistency each meet,” Breaux said.
Tiger fans can follow the meet with live video and live stats in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net, and fans can also receive updates including team and individual notes by following LSU gymnastics on twitter at twitter.com/lsugym.