Jan. 29, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team fell 195.725-195.025 to Illinois in a Big Ten Conference meet Friday, Jan. 29 at Rec Hall. Despite the loss, the Nittany Lions (0-3, 0-2) earned a season-high score on three out of four rotations before falling to the Illini (2-2, 2-1) in the final rotation of the night.
Sophomore Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) earned her third-straight vault title of the 2016 campaign, while also notching her first floor exercise title of the season. Sophomore Chanen Raygoza (Upland, Calif.) notched a share of the uneven bars title for the Blue and White with a career-best 9.900 for the Blue and White.
Tsang finished second in the all-around with a 39.325, while Kiera Brown (Newport News. Va.) placed fourth with a 39.150. Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) capped off the top five with a 38.075 in the all-around.
I thought it was a great meet," stated Head Coach Jeff Thompson. "It was exciting. We got off to a great start. We vaulted better, our scores were higher and I love to see that. We went to bars and there was a whole lot of energy. We were hitting routine after routine, hitting our handstands and sticking our dismounts. We went to beam and I feel like we tensed up a little bit, but they hit all six routines then we went to floor and there was already a lot of pressure on the girls because we only had five competing tonight."
The Nittany Lions opened up the meet in a big way, scoring a season-best 48.925 on the vault. Tsang took home her third-straight vault title with season-best 9.850, while Brown tied for second with a career-high 9.825. Freshman GiGi LaGuardia (Thornton, Colo.) rounded out the top five for Penn State with a career-best 9.800 on the vault for the Blue and White.
Moving to the uneven bars, Penn State saw its second season-best performance with a 49.250. Raygoza earned a share of the uneven bars title, tying a career-best 9.900. The freshmen duo of Garcia and Jessica Jones (Canfield, Ohio) grabbed the third and fourth-place finishes, each notching career highs with scores of 9.875 and 9.850, respectively.
The Nittany Lions continued their season-best trend into the third rotation, scoring a 2016 high 49.025 on the balance beam. Brown and Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) tied a team-high third-place finish, scoring matching 9.850s. The score marked a career high for Brown and a season-best for Medvitz.
Heading into the final event with the 147.200-146.525 advantage over Illinois, Tsang tied a career-high 9.925 to take her second title of the night for the Nittany Lions. Penn State struggled on the floor as Illinois swept the next five spots to come away with the 195.725-195.025 victory over the Nittany Lions in the final rotation.
Penn State will hit the road for the first time in the 2016 campaign when it travels to East Lansing, Mich. to take on the Spartans of Michigan State Saturday, Feb. 6. Meet time is slated for 2 p.m.