BATON ROUGE — The No. 13 LSU gymnastics team will continue SEC competition by traveling to Gainesville to take on the fourth-ranked Florida Gators at 6 p.m. CT Friday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
The meet will be televised on a tape delay basis by Fox Sports Net and will air for the first time Feb. 6 at 9 p.m.
LSU (3-2, 1-1 SEC) will look to produce a higher team score for the fourth straight meet as the Tigers have followed that trend in the previous three meets. LSU opened the season with a 194.375 against Maryland, built on that with a 195.350 in Las Vegas and tallied a 195.650 last week against Auburn.
“We have dual pressure this week. We have the pressure of being up against a national power and the pressure of us rising to our own occasion because we are still short-handed with people and still dealing with adversity with those issues,” LSU head coach D-D Breaux said. “Going in and demonstrating that we can have the same kind of competition that we had at home against Auburn is our ultimate goal.”
LSU’s four All-American seniors have led the Tigers in the first three meets, and the team will look to them for big scores against Florida.
Susan Jackson, the nation’s No. 1 all-arounder, averages a 39.475 all-around mark, and against Auburn she scored three 9.875’s and a 9.90 to lead the team.
The Tigers other two all-arounders, Sabrina Franceschelli and Summer Hubbard, both produced 39.100 totals against Auburn as Franceschelli tallied a 9.85 on bars and a 9.80 on floor while Hubbard scored a 9.875 on bars and a 9.85 on floor.
Kayla Rogers demonstrated her consistency in the leadoff spot last week on vault and floor by scoring a 9.825 and a 9.90 on those events, respectively.
Junior Samantha Engle has been hampered in practice this week with a minor injury, but the Tigers will count on her scores on beam and floor. Against Auburn, Engle recorded a 9.825 on floor.
LSU will again be without the services of Kaleigh Dickson, Lainie Fleming, Ericka Garcia and Nikki Lyons, but freshman Janelle Garcia may return this week after sitting out against Auburn with a sprained ankle.
Florida (2-1, 2-0) has relied on its underclassmen to produce high scores, and freshman Ashanée Dickerson leads the Gators and ranks fourth nationally in the all-around with a 39.358 average while fellow freshman Marissa King ranks 18th nationally with a 39.087 average.
Tiger fans can follow the meet on LSUsports.net where Mike Smith will provide live audio in the Geaux Zone, and team manager Paige Cipolloni and former Tiger Ashleigh Clare-Kearney will give color commentary during the meet.
Meet updates will also be available at twitter.com/lsugym, and live stats will be provided at gatorzone.com.