Despite high scores from junior Morgan Lane, The North Carolina gymnastics team (11-4, 5-1 EAGL) wrapped up their regular season, falling to No. 4 UCLA, 197.800-195.400, on Sunday.
What happened?
Pauley Pavilion drew out a giant crowd of roughly 8,500 fans, mostly Bruins. However, this didn’t faze the Tar Heels. The energetic crowd produced the college and EAGL Championship environment that head coach Derek Galvin desired.
UNC had a slow start to the match, scoring 48.225 on bars, while UCLA scored a 49.450. The highest scorer for the Tar Heels was junior Madison Nettles at a 9.725, while the Bruins’ Peng-Peng Lee posted a perfect score. The low performance by UNC was due to a fall and to a few extra swings, which can deduct over 1/10 of a point.
Next was vault, UNC’s highest score of the night at 49.100. According to Galvin, this was the best vault he’s seen in years. First-year Alexis Allen was .025 off from her career high while teammate Lane posted a career-high 9.875. Lane was the only Tar Heel to receive recognition for the event by tying for second.
In floor, which happens to typically be the strongest event for UNC, the Tar heels tied their season high with a score of 49.000. Lane tied for fourth with a 9.900 and first-year Khazia Hislop, previously ranked first for EAGL floor, scored a 9.775.
The final event was beam. This event concluded first-years Emma Marchese’s first meet as an all-around competitor. She had the second-highest score for UNC on beam at 9.825 while teammate Lane tied for third overall at 9.900.
Who stood out?
Lane stood out in every event. Although she couldn’t pull off first in the four events, she placed first for all-around with a season high of 39.375 — just .025 off her career high.
