The No. 17 Auburn Tigers gymnastics team will take on No. 2 Florida Gators at home Friday at 7 p.m.
The team did not bring home a win at the West Virginia University quad-meet last weekend, finishing third overall. It was a season low for the Tigers.
The SEC has presented stiff competition, said coach Jeff Graba.
"It's the toughest conference in the country," Graba said. "Last week there were six SEC teams in the top 13."
Florida will be the highest-ranked team to meet at Auburn this year.
"They're No. 2 in the country right now," he said. "They'll probably go to No. 1 next week because of the way rankings work, no matter how they do against us."
Sophomore Nikki Galluzzo will enter the Florida meet having posted a career-high score last weekend in her first bars routine of the year.
"(Florida is) good all around, but I think we have a pretty strong team," she said.
The team has been on the road for two weekends in a row.
"Having two meets in six days is tough," Graba said. "All the travel takes its toll as well."
Galluzzo said she enjoys home meets the most.
"Being home, you don't have to travel and do all that stuff," she said. "It's just easier. It's a lot more fun because you have the fans behind you."
The team is trying to regroup after last week's meet.
"We improved in the areas we wanted to improve in, but we obviously didn't do a good job on some of the other events," Graba said. "We feel like we're able to hit on all cylinders now, and we want to come out strong."
Friday against Florida will be a dual meet, meaning more chances for fans to see each routine.
"They're more focused," said freshman Megan Walker. "There's a lot more attention on each individual team and that's more fun."
Fan attendance has been a defining aspect of the Tigers' season so far.
"It's been insane," Walker said. "There have been so many people there, and then when we go to away meets and we look in the stands and just realize that their fans are definitely not as loyal."
Graba hopes Friday's meet sells out.
"We've broken our attendance record each week, so it'd be nice to rebreak it."
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