Tonight, the #22 UCLA gymnastics team hosts the #3 Utah Utes at Pauley Pavilion. The Utes come into Pauley with an undefeated record in six meets so far this season.

Five of Utah’s wins have come against teams in the Top 25. On January 7th, Utah defeated both #19 BYU and #25 Southern Utah. They followed up their opening wins by defeating #3 Oklahoma, 197.775-196.650. Since then, they’ve won their first two Pac-12 meets of the season against #13 Arizona State and #19 Stanford.

Meanwhile, the Bruin have struggled to a 2-3 mark so far including a 1-1 record in Pac-12 action. Let’s recap what UCLA did the last time out.

Last Time Out

On Sunday, the Bruins won their home opener over Arizona, 196.400-195.125.

On the first rotation, UCLA scored 49.250 on the vault while the Wildcats scored 48.825 on the bars. The Bruins were led by Chae Campbell who scored a 9.9 and Jordan Chiles who added a 9.875.

UCLA increased their lead on the second rotation. Chiles scored the Bruins’ team high 9.9 while Emma Malabuyo added a 9.825. UCLA finished the rotation with a 49.050 total, giving them a total score of 98.30. On the vault, Arizona scored a 48.75, putting their total score to 97.575.

Malabuyo helped UCLA increase their lead again on the third rotation by scoring a team-leading 9.925 on the beam. She earned a perfect 10 from one judge while the second judge only scored her with a 9.85. Norah Flatley and Ana Padurariu each added a 9.90 as the Bruins scored another 49.250. Arizona scored a 49.050 on the floor for their highest apparatus score of the meet.

The Bruins wrapped up the meet on the floor with their lowest score of the meet, a 48.850. Without Margzetta Frazier competing, Flatley delivered the team’s best score with a 9.90. No other Bruin came close to a 9.9, though Chiles was closest with a 9.825. Arizona finished the meet on the beam and the Wildcats scored a 48.85.

Outlook

UCLA faces a really tough task tonight and, frankly, I’m not very optimistic about the Bruins’ chances tonight.

Maybe UCLA will feed off the energy that the home crowd will provide. But the reality here is that Utah will seriously need to be off their game or these Bruins will need to perform in a way they have done yet this season (or both), for UCLA to have much of a chance tonight.

I hope I’m wrong, but whether I am or not, there’s little doubt that tonight’s meet should be a good one.

#22 UCLA Gymnastics (2-3, 1-1)

Opponent: #3 Utah Utes (6-0, 2-0)
When: 7:00 pm PT, Sunday, January 30, 2022
Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
TV: ESPN2 with Bart Connor, Kathy Johnson Clarke and Samantha Peszek
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Live Stats: uclabruins.com

Meet Notes:
UCLA
Utah

Official Preview


Go Bruins!!!

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