FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 25th-ranked LSU gymnastics team will seek to avenge a season-opening loss to Arkansas in the Cancun Classic as the Tigers face the third-ranked Razorbacks Friday at 7 p.m. CT inside Barnhill Arena.
Live audio will be available for free in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live starting at 6:55 p.m. CT with “Voice of LSU Gymnastics” Mike Smith, Ashleigh Clare-Kearney and Sara Pollock calling all the action.
LSU (1-4, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) will try to repeat last week’s performance against Auburn in which LSU exacted revenge with a 195.025-193.800 victory after losing to Auburn in the season opener.
The Tigers will be squaring off with an Arkansas team that is off to its best start in school history with a 5-0 overall record and 1-0 SEC mark. The Razorbacks have posted a team score of 196 or better in both meets, but LSU carries into the meet a 4-0-1 all time record against Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“We need to continue getting better each week, and the focus against Arkansas is to hit our handstand positions and stick our landings on bars,” head coach D-D Breaux said. “We gave away a lot of tenths of points in landing positions against Auburn, and I think the teams scoring better than 195 aren’t giving those points away.
“Our gymnasts need to realize we aren’t finished. We haven’t achieved what we need to do to be the kind of team that can go on the floor and challenge for championships, but we are working toward that goal.”
LSU’s lineups continue to take shape as the Tigers welcome back sophomore All-America Kaleigh Dickson this week after she missed the Auburn meet with a foot injury. Dickson is expected to compete in the vault, beam and floor lineups. Ericka Garcia and Shelby Prunty competed on beam last week, and both juniors are slated to compete in the beam lineup against Arkansas.
Sophomore Maliah Mathis will be limited for the third time this season, but she is scheduled to compete on vault against the Razorbacks.
For the second straight meet all-arounder Sarie Morrison will be limited because of a foot injury, but the sophomore is slated to anchor bars.
LSU will rely on freshmen to anchor vault, beam and floor as Rheagan Courville will go last on vault and beam and reigning SEC Freshman of the Week Lloimincia Hall will anchor the floor lineup.
Courville ranks 10th nationally on vault with a 9.90 average, and Hall is 13th on floor with a 9.875 average.
Arkansas is led by all-arounders Katherine Grable, Jaime Pisani and Jordan Salsberg. Grable ranks 10th nationally in the all-around with a 39.375 average, Pisani ranks 15th with a 39.263 average and Salsberg is 18th at 39.200.
Connect with LSU gymnastics by following the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsugym or on Twitter @LSUgym. Live scoring updates will be posted on Facebook and Twitter during each meet.