No. 9 Auburn fell in its first road meet of the season by a score of 196.225-194.550 to No. 8 Kentucky.
The Tigers are now 0-2 overall and have continued to rely on their underclassmen. Out of the 24 routines, 15 were performed by underclassmen.
Even with the high amount of routines done by underclassmen, junior Derrian Gobourne led the team. She competed in the all-around and scored a 39.075, finishing third.
“I was really happy with the team’s fight and focus tonight,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “They stayed determined throughout the whole meet. This was a tough meet because we asked a lot of some young people. We can definitely improve our execution and the small things can be fine-tuned, but I’m pleased with what we accomplished tonight.”
One of the underclassmen that Auburn relied on was freshman Olivia Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth competed in the all-around for the first time in her career.
She also started on the bars for the first time in her collegiate career and scored a 9.550. The Tigers ended bars with their lowest score of the night with a 48.450.
The vault event followed and saw underclassmen take four of the six spots. Hollingsworth had her highest score of the night with a 9.750 on the uneven bars. She was third on the team following Gobourne and sophomore Adeline Sabados with 9.825 and 9.775 respectively.
Overall, Auburn trailed on bars with a final of 48.800.
Auburn saw its highest outcome on the floor for the third event of the night, scoring a 48.750. Goubourne and Sabados led the event, both scoring a 9.775. This set a career-high for Sabados. Junior Sabrina Cheney also tied one of her career highs on floor with a leadoff score of 9.750.
The Tigers were able to beat Kentucky in one event and that was the balance beam. Auburn led by 0.050 with a pair of 9.775 lead from senior Meredith Sylvia and sophomore Piper Smith.
“College gymnastics hits freshmen like a ton of bricks when they compete for the first time,” Graba said. “It’s especially difficult with no fans in the stands. I thought they did a really good job and learned a lot tonight.”
Auburn will continue on the road traveling to No. 4 Alabama Friday, Jan. 22, competing at 7:30 p.m. CST on SEC Network.
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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.
