No. 14 Auburn Hosts No. 2 LSU Friday in Auburn Arena

Feb. 22, 2017

Auburn Notes

AUBURN, Ala. -- The No. 14 Auburn gymnastics team returns to The Plains Friday, Feb. 24, for a 7:30 p.m. CT meet vs. No. 2 LSU. The Tigers and the Bayou Bengals will go head-to-head in Auburn Arena live on SEC Network.

"This Friday will be another good test for us," head coach Jeff Graba said. "The next challenge is building on what we did last week. We need to clean things up and if we do that, I think we'll be very competitive. You want to put pressure on teams when you're at home and I think that if we rise to the challenge, we'll do that and hold our own."

EVENT INFORMATION
Friday's meet is Auburn's annual `All Auburn, All Orange' meet as fans are encouraged to show up wearing orange.

Fans are able to purchase tickets at AUBTix.com. General Admission tickets are available for $6, while Reserved are $8. Tickets for groups of 15 or more are $3 apiece. Fans are encouraged to arrive before 6:45 p.m. CT and to take advantage of Auburn's "Print-at-Home" ticket feature to avoid lines at the ticket office.

Shuttles will run continuously for fans from the Athletic Complex and McWhorter Center parking lots from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. CT. Fans are also reminded that parking is also available in the lot in front of Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

For more meet day information, visit http://www.auburntigers.com/facilities/gym_arena.html.

IN THE RANKINGS
In the first week of Regional Qualifying Score rankings, Auburn stands 14th with a team average of 196.015.

The top five slots have been mixed up slightly now that RQS is in play. Oklahoma (197.890), LSU (197.655), and Florida (197.435) remain in the top three, while Alabama jumped to spots to No. 4 (197.085) and Utah is fifth (196.965). UCLA, Georgia, Denver, Michigan, and Oregon State are Nos. 6-10.

The Tigers rank in the Top 20 in all four events this week. Auburn is No. 11 on bars (49.130) and tied for 14th on floor (49.055). The squad is 18th on vault (48.980) and tied for 18th beam (49.010).

SCOUTING LSU
The LSU gymnastics team is the No. 2 squad nationally with a 197.655 RQS. The Tigers are second nationally in all four individual events as well - vault (49.420), bars (49.375), beam (49.430), floor (49.510).

Individually, senior Ashleigh Gnat is second in the nation on vault (9.930) and floor (9.945), while coming in tied for sixth on beam (9.895). Sophomore Sarah Finnegan is tied for second on beam for LSU with a 9.925 RQS.

AUBURN/LSU SERIES
LSU leads the all-time series with a 74-15 overall mark and are 11-6 in meets held in Auburn. LSU is 9-1 in the last 10 meetings with Auburn coming out on top at the 2015 NCAA Semifinal as the AU Tigers advanced to the Super Six in front of the Bayou Bengals, 197.075-196.550.

Auburn's last win over LSU in the regular season came on The Plains in 2013. AU bested LSU, 197.175-196.975, setting a then-school record with that score.

UP NEXT
Auburn concludes its SEC schedule on the road, traveling to No. 13 Missouri, March 3. The two Tiger teams square off at 7 p.m. CT in Columbia, Mo., and the meet will stream on SEC Network+.

For the latest on Auburn gymnastics, follow @AuburnGym on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuburnGym.