AUBURN, Ala. – Senior Cassie Stevens won the all-around to lead No. 5 Auburn to a 197.175-196.125 victory over No. 20 North Carolina State Friday at sold-out Neville Arena.
Stevens opened the meet for Auburn by winning the vault title with a 9.925. She added a 9.85 on bars, a 9.9 on beam and a 9.925 on floor to post a season-best total of 39.6.
"I was really happy with my performance," said Stevens, who won her third career all-around title and first since 2021. "Working on all those finer details in the gym this past week paid off, which is always really nice."
"She's always there for us and always does this," Auburn coach Jeff Graba said. "It's nice that people get to see what she's capable of. This is how she practices. She's a team player."
Auburn scored 49.250 on vault, with fifth year Derrian Gobourne scoring 9.875, sophomore Sunisa Lee anchoring with a 9.85, and junior Olivia Hollingsworth and sophomore Sara Hubbard contributing 9.8s.
Lee won the event title on bars, earning 9.95s from both judges. Sophomore Sophia Groth matched Stevens' 9.85 while Gobourne added a 9.825 and Hollingsworth and junior Gabby McLaughlin opened with 9.8s to give the Tigers 49.275 on the second rotation.
"Pretty proud of the girls," Graba said. "I thought they did a really good job of fighting through all the way to the end. I'd like to execute at a higher level but for the most part, I'm pretty happy with the group."
Auburn scored its highest total on beam with 49.350. Lee and senior Aria Brusch matched Stevens' 9.9 to share the event title with North Carolina State's Chloe Negrete. Hollingsworth led off with a 9.85 and McLaughlin added a 9.8.
"They're starting to look like they do in practice," Graba said. "That's a good thing. If our three gymnasts (Hollingsworth, Brusch and Stevens) can start like that consistently for the rest of the year, we're in really good shape."
"I think tonight showed that the front of the lineup can definitely hit and make those big scores without it having to be put on the back of the lineup, which is really good," Brusch said. "In the future everybody hitting together would be amazing, and we're still working on it."
For the second straight week, Gobourne's fabulous floor routine earned a 10 from one of the judges, yielding a 9.975 to win the event title.
"When she gets on the stage, you've got to step out of the way," Graba said. "Really proud of how she can turn it on when her team needs her to turn it on. She's a great teammate."
Brusch led off with a 9.775, McLaughlin followed with a 9.8 and Groth continued the climb with a 9.825. Stevens' 9.925 and Gobourne's big score gave the Tigers 49.3 on the event.
Hollingsworth and Groth also competed in all four events for the Tigers.
Auburn heads to Tuscaloosa next week to meet in-state rival Alabama at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
"I feel like we haven't hit our stride yet," Stevens said. "We know there's so much more in the tank. We always see Alabama as a challenge, and we like to step up to the plate to it."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
