Jan. 16, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -The Penn State women's gymnastics team fell in its Big Ten opener Saturday afternoon against Nebraska, 196.150-194.575, inside Rec Hall. Sophomore Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) tied Nebraska's Hollie Blanske for the all-around title.
"Overall we had some great things and we had some disappointing things," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "We all did much better than we did last week. The scores were a little higher. It's really hard to judge from week to week score wise. I thought overall out performances were much better overall than they were last week."
In her second career meet, freshman Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) set two career-bests and tied two career-bests on the afternoon. Garcia finished the day with a career-best all-around score of 39.125 to finish fourth.
The Nittany Lions (0-2, 0-1) opened the day with a season-best 48.625 on the vault. Tsang continued her sophomore season with her second-straight vault title. On the vault, Tsang tallied a season-best 9.850. Also on the vault, Garcia tied her career-best score of 9.750 for a fifth-place finish.
With the Nittany Lions scoring a 48.625 on the vault, Nebraska (3-0, 1-0) posted a 49.025 on the uneven bars to take the early lead after rotation one. The Nittany Lions followed up their score on the vault with a 48.975 on the uneven bars. Penn State tallied three performances in the top-four on the even bars.
Nebraska's Jennie Laeng claimed the uneven bars title with her score of 9.875, but Garcia claimed second as she tied her career-best score of 9.850. Also placing in the top-three for the Nittany Lions were Kiera Brown (Newport News, Va.) and Chanen Raygoza (Upland, Calif.). They both tied for third with their scores of 9.825. The Nittany Lions closed the gap after the second rotation, as Nebraska held a 97.650-97.600 lead over Penn State.
Penn State posted a team score of 48.150 on the balance beam as the Nittany Lions were led by freshman Mason Hosek (Pearland, Texas) and Tsang with scores of 9.825 apiece. Both Hosek and Tsang tied for fifth place on the balance beam. While Penn State was on the balance beam, Nebraska scored a 49.150 on the floor exercise. Heading into the final rotation, Nebraska led Penn State 146.800-145.750.
Penn State closed the day with a 48.825 on the floor exercise while Nebraska hit 49.350 on the balance beam. On the floor exercise for Penn State, Tsang recorded a season-best 9.850 to tie for second place and Brown tallied a career-best 9.825 to tie for fourth place.
Up next, Penn State heads to Big Ten opponent Maryland for a Sunday afternoon showdown on Jan. 24. The meet is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start inside the XFINITY Center.