Auburn gymnastics put up its second-highest score of the season, but it still wasn’t enough to take down the defending national runners-up LSU, losing by a score of 196.575-196.275.
No. 20 Auburn came off of a historic win over rival Alabama in its home gym, but that motivation wasn’t enough to take down another set of Tigers. Auburn scored 49.275 on beam, 48.575 on vault, 49.225 on bars and 49.200 on floor for the night. However, Auburn has come within the closest margin No. 7 LSU has seen all season.
"We showed some jitters tonight but did a great job settling down as the meet went on," head coach Jeff Graba said. "I am so proud of this group because we have a bunch of fighters on this team. This group did a great job handling the pressure and we made a big step tonight."
Both Tigers put up its best performance on bars this year, while Auburn trailed LSU by 0.050. Sophomore Derrian Gobourne led the event with a 9.925 and tied her career-high from last week. Freshman Adeline Sabados threw a double layout and gained her career-best at 9.825. Senior Gracie Day also added to the score with a season-high 9.875.
The second rotation on vault was the lowest score for Auburn of the night even though freshman Cassie Stevens and Gobourne led the team with a pair of 9.825s. This gave Stevens a new career-high while junior Jada Glenn added a season-best at 9.8. Auburn counted a 9.625 from junior Drew Watson and a 9.5 by senior Skyler Sheppard.
Floor gave Auburn its third rotation bounce back, but LSU sealed the deal in their final floor routine of the night, as the home Tigers freshman Kiya Johnson anchored and scored a huge score of 9.975 to secure its win. Auburn freshman Aria Brusch pulled another career-high, laying out a 9.90 on the floor, tying with Sheppard for the event lead.
"We have a great team atmosphere and we can help boost each other as the meet goes on," Brusch said. "Tonight really helped my confidence knowing I can perform well not just at home, but on the road as well."
The final rotation gave Auburn a strong finish on the beam with its overall performance scoring a season-best. Brusch broke another career record pushing for a 9.875. Junior Meredith Sylvia and Watson were able to tie their career-highs. Watson scored 9.875 while led the team Sylvia with a score of 9.90.
"It felt good to hit again, but I just take it one meet at a time and don't think much about the previous week," Sylvia said. "We were able to group back together and finish strong and that's really exciting."
The Tigers return to Auburn Arena next week, hosting Missouri. The two teams will go head to head at 7 p.m. CST and the meet will be streamed on SEC Network+.
"This is a fun team to watch," Graba said. "We're in every meet and we're getting better each week. We took big steps tonight and I’m excited to see what we do next Friday at home against Missouri."
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Mattison Allen is a senior from Springville, Ala. She's majoring in public relations communications with the goal of becoming a sports information director one day.
