March 8, 2018
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 28 Penn State women's gymnastics team (7-5, 1-4 Big Ten) is heading to Provo, Utah, for a quad meet on Friday, March 9. The Nittany Lions will compete against No. 21 BYU, Texas Woman's University and Utah State. The meet is slated for a 9 p.m. (EST) start at the Smith Fieldhouse.
Following Friday's meet at BYU, the Nittany Lions will have only one meet left in the regular season before the championship portion of their season begins on March 24.
Last weekend, Penn State captured a quad meet victory over Pittsburgh, Temple and No. 31 West Virginia. The Nittany Lions finished first with a season-high 196.650 followed by host Pittsburgh (196.475), West Virginia (196.075), and Temple (194.250). In addition to the season-best team score, the Nittany Lions tallied a season-best score on vault (49.300).
Individually for the Nittany Lions, freshman Lauren Bridgens won two event titles, while senior Briannah Tsang captured two event titles and the all-around crown. For Bridgens, she tied for the vault title and won the uneven bars title outright, while Tsang tied for the balance beam title and won the floor exercise title outright.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats can be found on byucougars.com, while a live stream will be on byutv.org/livetv.
SCOUTING BYU
Last weekend, then-No. 24 BYU (8-4, 4-1 MRGC) competed twice. The Cougars opened up the weekend with a victory over Utah State, 196.200-196.100, on March 2 before dropping a 196.975-196.375 contest at then-No. 8 Oregon State on March 5.
Nationally, BYU ranks 21st in the regional-qualifying score (RQS) standings (196.040), 26th on vault (48.990), 17th on bars (49.140), 25th on beam (48.995), and 22nd on floor (49.155).
SCOUTING TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY
Texas Woman's University (7-7, 5-0 MIC) is coming off a season-high 195.575 in a victory over Iowa last weekend.
Nationally, Texas Woman's University ranks 52nd in the RQS (194.085), 37th on vault (48.815), 54th on bars (48.555), 55th on beam (48.340), and 58th on floor (48.620).
SCOUTING UTAH STATE
Utah State (6-7, 1-3 MRGC) enters the quad meet after posting a season-best 196.100 last weekend against then-No. 24 BYU (196.200). Utah State's score of 196.100 ranks ninth all-time in school history.
Nationally, Utah State is 38th in the RQS (195.240), 42nd on vault (48.770), 46th on bars (48.640), 28th on beam (48.920), and 27th on floor (49.105).
WEEKLY BIG TEN HONORS
Freshman Lauren Bridgens and senior Briannah Tsang have both garnered weekly honors from the Big Ten conference four times this season. Bridgens has been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, while Tsang has been tabbed the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week.
TSANG'S 65 TITLES
Senior Briannah Tsang has captured 47 individual titles and 18 all-around titles in her Nittany Lion career.
With nine meets in the 2018 season complete, Tsang has 24 titles to her name. On the year, she has won six floor exercise titles, five vault titles, three balance beam titles, two uneven bars titles, and has captured at least a share of the all-around title eight times.
TRENDING UP
Heading into the BYU quad meet, Penn State has recorded season-best scores in back-to-back meets. Against George Washington on Feb. 24, the Nittany Lions posted a 196.150 and then in a quad meet at Pittsburgh on March 4, Penn State recorded a 196.650.
The Nittany Lions have recorded back-to-back scores of 196.000-or-better for the first time since March 12-19, 2016.
NEXT UP
No. 28 Penn State heads to Piscataway, New Jersey, for the Big Five Meet on March 17. In the Piscataway Big Five section, Penn State will compete against No. 29 Iowa, No. 7 Michigan, No. 22 Minnesota, and Rutgers. The meet is slated for a 5:30 p.m. start at the Rutgers Athletic Center.