In front of the second gymnastics sellout in Auburn Arena history, the eighth-ranked Tigers lost their second meet of the season, falling to No. 1 Florida 197.075-195.900.
The meet marked the return of former Auburn assistant Jenny Rowland, who is now in her first season as the head coach of the Gators, but Auburn head coach Jeff Graba didn’t see a difference in Florida’s performance from prior years.
“It was just same old Florida to me,” Graba said. “It was a really good Florida team, the three-time national champ, and they don’t look like they’ve missed a beat. They’re pretty seasoned, pretty experienced, and (Rowland) is doing a really good job with them.”
Though the Tigers started slow with some missteps early, Graba said he was proud of his team for the heart they showed throughout the meet.
“I thought our girls did a good job of fighting all day, but obviously I’d rather us not have to fight, I’d rather us start out smooth and build on it,” Graba said. “We just had a lot of fits and starts all day, but in the end it’s how you finish up … I think we finished on a strong note, and hopefully we can build off of it.”
Auburn came into the night competing in its third meet in eight days, so time to practice has been hard to come by. Senior Lexus Demers said the team is just ready for its schedule to return to normal.
“It’s been a hectic schedule, the beginning of our season,” Demers said. “You really only have one day to train in between each meet, so it’s going to be nice to finally settle down and get back to a regular schedule and a regular week. We have lessons to learn from tonight, and we’re going to take that into the gym, and we’re going to work on it.”
Auburn opened on vault, scoring a 48.925. Senior Caitlin Atkinson’s 9.825 led the Tigers.
On bars, the Tigers scored a 49.100, and Atkinson again led Auburn, this time scoring a 9.875.
Next, Auburn scored a 48.700 on beam, led by junior Kullen Hlawek and freshman Taylor Krippner, each scoring a 9.775.
The Tigers finished strong on floor, scoring a 49.175, with Demers tying her career-high with a 9.925.
“I challenged them before Florida to do an actual floor set like they can do because I don’t think we’ve done it all year, and we looked pretty good on floor,” Graba said. “We actually settled down and did what we could do.”
Auburn falls to 2-2 on the season and 1-2 in SEC play. The Tigers travel to Fayetteville to take on No. 10 Arkansas Friday, January 29 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
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