A season-high overall score was not enough for Ball State Gymnastics to claim victory over Pittsburgh or West Virginia Friday.
Ball State scored a team total of 195.000 on the night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just short of West Virginia’s 195.650 and Pittsburgh’s 195.425.
Friday was the first time this season the Cardinals scored at least 195.000, although it ultimately ended in a loss.
“Obviously having our best score of the season was really fun,” head coach Joanna Saleem said. “We were able to put together four events for the most part. Seeing them compete on the floor the way they do in practice was really exciting.”
After a few matches with low beam scores, the Cardinals stepped up and scored a season-high 48.850 on the beam. This event was led by sophomore Arden Hudson who scored a career-high 9.875.
“We worked all week in practice to make beam fun,” Hudson said. “We went out and had fun like we do in practice, and it worked out there for us tonight.”
The beam proved to be Ball State’s second-best scoring rotation, and a couple of Cardinals seized the top two spots overall. Hudson won the event and was followed by senior Kaitlyn Menzione who earned second place with a score of 9.825.
The strongest rotation of the season thus far has been the vault, and this was the Cardinals’ highest rotation score of the evening as well. They tallied a 48.925, and freshman Stefanie Schweikert led the way with a score of 9.875. This score placed Schweikert in second overall individually.
The floor exercise was led by Menzione who scored a 9.825. The total floor score for the team rounded out to 48.775. The Cardinals scored a total of 48.47 as a team on the bars. Freshman Marissa Nychyk led the team with a score of 9.800. This score was followed by a 9.750 from graduate student Jordyn Penny.
Despite grabbing the season-best beam performance, Saleem said there is still room for improvement.
“We were really close to doing a lot more and have a couple little things to fix,” Saleem said. “But, I’m really proud of the team, and we’re excited to go out Sunday and do it again.”
The Cardinals will have one day off before returning to Worthen Arena to take on Southeast Missouri and Illinois State Sunday at 1 p.m.
Contact Drew Pierce with any comments at dlpierce2@bsu.edu or on Twitter @dpierce3cc.
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