UCLA Gymnastics Closes Regular Season Against San Jose State
The program will honor the team's six seniors after the meet's conclusion.
This afternoon, the UCLA gymnastics team closes out the regular season with a meet against the San Jose State Spartans at 2 pm PT after losing to UC Berkeley last weekend, 198.050-196.925. While today’s meet will not be televised, it can be viewed via a live stream.
Last Time Out
The UCLA Bruins gymnastics team traveled to UC Berkeley for their final road meet of the season last Saturday, but the Bears’ school record 198.05 proved to be too much as UCLA was only able to muster a 196.925.
As the visiting team, UCLA began the meet on bars. Chae Campbell stepped in to open the meet and scored a career-high 9.875. Savannah Kooyman was again solid in the second spot with a 9.825 and Sara Ulias matched Campbell’s 9.875. Frida Esparza notched a 9.85, followed by a 9.9 by Nia Dennis. Margzetta Frazier closed the event with a 9.95 and the Bruins began the meet out in front with a slight lead, 49.450 to 49.225.
In rotation two, UCLA scored a season-high on vault. Pauline Tratz opened with a 9.8 while Kendal Poston kept the Bruins going with a season-high 9.875. Frazier added a 9.825 and Sekai Wright followed with a 9.775. Dennis almost reached perfection with a 9.925 and Campbell came even closer with a 9.950. Even with this stellar performance, the Bears had absolutely nailed their bars routines, scoring a NCAA record-tying 49.825. After two, UCLA fell behind, 99.050-98.825.
Following the vault, the Bruins put up another season-high score on the floor. Emma Andres opened with a 9.775 and Wright moved the needle with a career-high 9.875. Tratz tied her career-high 9.95 to earn a tie for the floor title. Frazier and Campbell followed with a pair of 9.925s. Dennis closed with a 9.625 after a step out, but UCLA was still behind, 148.550 to 147.475.
The beam rotation continued to pose trouble for the Bruins who had two falls and had to count one of them in the final score. Poston began the event with a fall, but Samantha Sakti got the Bruins back on track with a 9.925, her fourth score over 9.900 this season. Esparza continued with a 9.675, but Dennis followed with another fall. Frazier managed to earn a 9.825 and Campbell closed with a strong 9.875. UC Berkeley added another score over 49.000 to their total and ran away with the meet, 198.050 to 196.925.
San Jose State Spartans
The Spartans have have not has it easy this year, considering they were unable to practice for a large part of the fall due to Covid-19 protocols. They opened the season with a February 27 meet against Stanford, and since both teams found themselves in similar places, the coaches came together and opted to make the meet entirely exhibition. The following meet was a narrow loss to Air Force, and this week featured a make up meet with Stanford on Wednesday. This was their only home meet of the season, and they won by a large margin,194.375-192.550.
As they take on the Bruins today, look for former Bruin gymnast Mercedez Sanchez. She is competing as a graduate transfer, and while her profile lists her in the All-Around, she typically competes on beam.
#14 UCLA Gymnastics (5-2)
Opponent: San Jose State Spartans (2-1)
When: 2:00 pm PT, Saturday, March 13, 2021
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: None
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Live Stats: UCLA Stat Broadcast
Meet Notes:
UCLA
Official Preview
Go Bruins!!!
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