North Carolina gymnastics picks up an away win by dominating the floor routine

The North Carolina gymnastics team posted its highest away meet score of the season to defeat William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., on Saturday.

The team scored 195.125 points to William & Mary’s 192.625 and dominated on the floor routine, beating the Tribe by more than a point during that rotation.

What happened?

The Tar Heels (7-5, 3-3 EAGL) began the night on bars, which has been a challenging event for the team throughout the season. The team posted a 48.675 and was led by sophomore Rylie Dewhurst. 

Dewhurst matched her season-high with a 9.825 which was good enough for first overall on the bars. 

“Bars has been a challenging event for us on the road,” head coach Derek Galvin said. “Today, they shook that off.”

Despite their impressive performance on bars, the Tar Heels were losing to the Tribe, who started on the vault. 

UNC then moved to the vault where the team began to take control of the meet. The Tar Heels scored a 48.975 on vault and gained the lead going into the third rotation.

The Tar Heels third rotation was the floor routine, which is the team’s strength. UNC posted their best score of any rotation with a 49.125 and dominated the event. 

Junior Khazia Hislop led the way, scoring a 9.950 and earning first place overall. She was followed by senior Madison Hargrave who placed second. 

Barring a catastrophic rotation, the Tar Heels had the meet in hand heading into the balance beam. UNC held their own and scored a 48.350 on the balance beam to guarantee victory.

Who stood out?

Hislop continued to impress for the Tar Heels. The junior matched her career high for her floor routine and led UNC on the vault.

She finished first overall for both events and added a fourth place finish on the balance beam.

When was it decided?

The meet was decided once the Tar Heels took a commanding lead following the third rotation. UNC had just come off their impressive floor routine while William & Mary just had a low-scoring performance on the balance beam. 

UNC led by more than two points heading into the final rotation and iced the meet with a solid performance on the vault in their final routine of the night.

Why does it matter?

The Tar Heels have struggled on the road this season but earned their highest road score of the year. With no more home meets, UNC will look to continue to improve on the road in two more meets before the EAGL championships.

“We are getting better at competing on the road, and that’s the key,” Galvin said. “When we go to the EAGL championships, it’s not going to be at home.

When do they play next?

UNC will travel to Kent, Ohio, for a meet against Ball State, Kent State and Rutgers on March 10.

@matt_chilson

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