Jan. 7, 2011
AMES, Iowa--The No. 15 Auburn (0-1) gymnastics team lost by .700 of a point to No. 22 Iowa State (1-0) in their season opener at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The Tigers turned in a team score of 192.775, as the Cyclones got the victory after scoring 193.475.
"We have a lot of inexperience out there," head coach Jeff Graba said. "We had Petrina (Yokay) doing three events that she hasn't competed in the past three years. A lot of it is experience and rust, and some of it is we've had a lot of injuries and we are trying to come back. For the most part the people who've practiced for us most of the year and have competed for Auburn before, those guys have done a pretty good job. I think we sort of saw this one coming."
The Tigers began the night on the uneven bars with junior Kylie Sheilds having the best score of the night, a 9.825. Kendall Swartz turned in a great performance for a score of 9.725, while Allyson Sandusky scored a 9.700. Auburn opened their night with 48.475 on the bars.
Vault was Auburn's second rotation of the evening, and sophomore Petrina Yokay got the night started off in a big way. The Cameron Park, Calif., native scored a career best and first-place 9.825 in the event. Laura Lane followed up Yokay scoring 9.525, while junior Justine Foster scored a 9.775 to give Auburn a team total of 48.375.
"Obviously there are some real bright spots on the team," Graba added.
In the floor exercise, senior Lauren Brzostowski led off for Auburn scoring a 9.475. Foster scored a 9.550 and senior Rachel Inniss scored a 9.75 in the event. The Tigers scored a team total of 47.275 on floor, and headed into their final rotation behind the Cyclones by 0.925 points.
In their final rotation of the night the Tigers scored a team total 48.650. Inniss turned in a first-place 9.850 on the beam, while freshman Abbey Habich turned in a 9.800 in her first competition as a Tiger. Two 9.700 were scored by Brzostowski and Sandusky.
"With what we did right, we've got to take some confidence away from tonight," Graba said. "We have to look at what we did poorly and say `I don't make those mistakes characteristically on a consistent basis, so I can't make those mistakes again.' We just got to get a little more consistent in competition. We are a pretty good practice team right now, but we are showing our nerves out there."
Auburn returns to action in their home opener Friday, Jan. 14 and 7 p.m., at Auburn Arena.