(Photo: Nick Wicksman/WCSN)
After a performance filled with highs and lows, the Arizona State Gym Devils lost to the 10th-ranked Oregon State Beavers on Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
OSU came away with a solid victory, scoring 196.275 points to Arizona State’s 193.475 in Friday’s dual meet.
ASU began the night on a high note, scoring a season high of 48.700 on the vault in the opening rotation. Junior transfer Taylor Allex continued to shine, receiving a 9.900 on vault. This tied her season high performance on February 6 in Salt Lake City that was also a top score for the team in 2015.
In the second rotation the Oregon State Beavers scored an impressive 49.200 on the vault.
The Gym Devils kept it close, countering with a 48.650 on the uneven bars.
The third rotation was a struggle for ASU. Allex and junior Allie Salas fell off the beam and saw their scores fall. Both gymnasts received a season low on the beam as a result. Senior Brianna Gades, who found herself with an unusually low 9.325 on the uneven bars in the second rotation, turned in a good performance on the balance beam earning the Gym Devils a 9.850. OSU junior Risa Perez, who transferred from ASU this year, turned in a 9.825 for the Beavers on the floor exercise and at the end of the third Oregon State lead ASU by 2.200 points.
The Gym Devils came out strong on the last rotation in hopes of gaining some ground on the Beavers in the floor exercise. Allex tied her season high again on floor with a 9.850 and although every ASU gymnast scored above a 9.600, it was not enough to grasp the win tonight. ASU finished with 193.475, 2.800 points behind Oregon State.
Head Coach René Lyst was upset about the mistakes after the meet.
“It was disappointing. We need to go back in the gym clean up a little bit, get some more repetitions under our belt so we can be better next time,” Lyst said.
She also mentioned the team’s season high score on vault, saying the vaults were not as clean as they could have been.
Although Allex fell off the beam in the third rotation, she tied her season high in both vault and floor.
“I didn’t expect to fall but I’ll just move on with it and keep working hard in practice,” Allex said. “I was surprised with vault because I didn’t really train it [at] all this week, but I just had confidence in myself that I could do it and obviously it worked out.”
The Gym Devils will be back at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe on Saturday, February 28th when they will host UCLA.
