Feb. 8, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 31 Penn State women's gymnastics team (2-3, 1-3 Big Ten) heads to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the No. 26 Ohio State Buckeyes (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) for a Friday, Feb. 9, night Big Ten competition. The meet is slated for a 6 p.m. start at St. John Arena.
Penn State is coming off a 195.600-195.550 victory over the Michigan State Spartans last Sunday in East Lansing, Michigan. With its score of 195.600, the Nittany Lions posted their second-straight meet with a season-best score.
Individually, three Nittany Lions brought home titles. For Penn State, Lauren Bridgens and Sabrina Garcia shared the uneven bars title, while Briannah Tsang won the vault, floor exercise, and the all-around - all with season-best scores.
As a team against Michigan State, the Nittany Lions posted a 48.950 on the vault, tied the No. 3 score in school history on the uneven bars (49.375), posted a 48.175 on the balance beam and tallied a season-best score of 49.100 on the floor exercise.
The Nittany Lions finished the day with 11 season-best performances, which included a pair of career-best performances from Bridgens.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live video and live stats via ohiostatebuckeyes.com, but fans must have an account to access the video.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
The No. 26 Ohio State Buckeyes enter the meet against Penn State with an overall record of 5-3 and a record of 2-2 in Big Ten action.
Last weekend, Ohio State tallied a score of 195.850 en route to a quad meet victory over Rutgers, West Chester, and UW-Whitewater.
In the quad meet last weekend at Rutgers, Ohio State tallied scores of 49.175 (vault), 48.875 (uneven bars), 48.800 (balance beam), 49.000 (floor exercise).
On the day, the Buckeyes won the vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise, while recording a second-place finish on the balance beam. In the all-around, Alexis Mattern took the top spot in the standings with her score of 39.150.
Nationally, OSU ranks 26th in the all-around (195.210), 19th on the vault (48.960), tied for 34th on the uneven bars (48.645), 36th on the balance beam (48.530), and 18th on the floor exercise (49.075).
B1G GYMNAST OF THE WEEK X2
Senior Briannah Tsang has received Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors twice in 2018.
Following a season-best all-around score of 39.425 against Nebraska, Tsang was named the Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Week (Jan. 16).
On Saturday, Jan. 13, against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Tsang won the all-around title and floor exercise title outright in addition to tying for the uneven bars title.
On the day, Tsang tallied scores of 9.900 (floor exercise & uneven bars), 9.825 (vault), and 9.800 (balance beam) en route to a season-best all-around score of 39.425.
After capturing three titles at Michigan State, Tsang was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week (Feb. 5).
At Michigan State (Feb. 4), Tsang won the vault (9.850), floor exercise (9.925), and the all-around (39.475) - all with season-best scores. In addition to her three titles, Tsang tied for second on the balance beam (9.850) and she tied for fifth on the uneven bars (9.850).
B1G FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Following the season opener against Eastern Michigan, Lauren Bridgens was tabbed the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
In her Penn State debut, Bridgens tied for the vault title (9.825), placed second on the uneven bars (9.800), finished fourth on the balance beam (9.700) and on the floor exercise (9.725). Bridgens closed out the day with a score of 39.050 in the all-around as she shared the all-around title with Briannah Tsang.
TSANG'S 56 TITLES
Senior Briannah Tsang has captured 41 individual titles and 15 all-around titles in her Nittany Lion career.
With five meets into the 2018 season complete, Tsang has 15 titles to her name. On the year, she has won the uneven bars and balance beam twice and the vault and floor exercise three times and has captured at least a share of the all-around title five times.
FIVE-IN-A-ROW
Senior Briannah Tsang has captured at least a share of the all-around title in each of the first five meets of the 2018 season. In her Penn State career, Tsang has won the all-around 15 times. With her fourth-straight all-around title on Jan. 27, Tsang became the first Nittany Lion since Sharaya Musser to win four-straight all-around titles (2/23-3/16/13).
FIRST CAREER TITLES
Three Nittany Lions have captured their first career titles this season. For Penn State, Alissa Bonsall shared the uneven bars title against Nebraska, Lauren Bridgens tied for the vault title and the all-around title against Eastern Michigan, and Gianna LaGuardia tied for the vault title at Maryland.
NEXT UP
No. 31 Penn State returns home to Happy Valley to host Cornell and Penn in a tri-meet format. The meet is slated for a 4 p.m. start at Rec Hall on Feb. 17.