FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas gymnastics team’s run of firsts came to an abrupt end Friday in a shocking home loss to No. 28 BYU.
The No. 12 Razorbacks had a pair of falls on the balance beam and could not make up for those major flaws after a shaky start on the floor exercise and fell by a score of 195.1 to 195.025. An estimated crowd of 2,253 was on hand in Barnhill Arena to see the upset as the Razorbacks conducted their first Pink Meet for breast cancer awareness.
“I think we need to get a whole lot better, the same thing I’ve thought every single week this season,” Arkansas Co-Coach Rene Cook said. “We’ll go back and assess some of the mistakes we had, some of the errors and some of the lineup choices, and we’ll go from there.”
Arkansas lost despite some outstanding individual showings, such as Jaime Pisani’sseason-best 9.925 as the final performance of the night on the floor.
“We weren’t expecting that at all,” Pisani said of the loss. “We wanted to come out and get at least a 196 because we haven’t gotten there yet.”
BYU (10-2-2) did not have an inspiring showing on the beam, with a 48.675, but the Cougars closed out the meet with all six competitors staying on the four-inch wide apparatus.
“When we came in, we had no lethal delusions of winning the thing,” BYU Coach Brad Cattermole said. “We thought if we could break 195on the road that would be awesome.
“Tonight they kind of gave us an opening. We still had to hit beam, though. Our kids kept smiling and competing. ... I think we caught Arkansas on a down night. They aren’t normally a team that falls all over on beam.”
Arkansas (4-3) had posted dual meet victories over Georgia and LSU the past two weeks, the first in school history, and stood poised to win dual meets on five consecutive weeks for the first time but could not get it done.
Pisani won her fifth allaround title of the season(39.375) and took the vault title (9.875). Razorbacks freshman Katherine Grable scored 39.275 for second in the allaround and won the beam with a 9.85.
Arkansas junior Genny Salvatore’s personal success story took another turn. Salvatore, who has recovered from four knee surgeries, tied for the title on the bars with a 9.8.
“Personally, it’s been such a cool experience,” Salvatore said. “I’ve just gotten more confidence each week. ... I was going up there to hit a routine for my team.”
Arkansas built only a slender lead of 97.8 to 97.55 after two rotations, which came back to haunt the Razorbacks after the third turn.
The Razorbacks were forced to count a 9.175 on the balance beam - and posted a season-low 48.275 - after both Shelby Salmon and Stacy Bartlett came off the apparatus.
BYU’s Raquel Willman and Jennifer Lezeu tied for the bars title with Salvatore. The Cougars had no other event winners, but their depth through the rotation keyed the victory.
BYU 195.10, Arkansas 195.025Friday Barnhill Arena, Fayetteville ROTATION I ARKANSAS (Vault: 48.95) Amanda Siebert 9.725, Jordan Salsberg 9.75, Scarlett Williams 9.80, Jaime Pisani 9.875, Katherine Grable 9.80, Michelle Stout 9.275 BYU (Bars: 48.875) Sarah Yandow 9.75, Raquel Willman 9.80, Jennifer Lezeu 9.80, Madeleine Johnson 9.725, Haylee Rollins 9.775, Natalie Eyre 9.75 ROTATION II ARKANSAS (Bars: 48.85) Jordan Salsberg 9.775, Katherine Grable 9.75, Genny Salvatore 9.80, Jaime Pisani 9.75, Shelby Salmon 9.675, Mariah Howdeshell 9.775 BYU (Vault: 48.675) Sarah Yandow 9.625, Krysten Koval 9.65, KayCee Gassaway 9.675, Mickell Merrell 9.725, Natalie Eyre 9.825, Haylee Rollins 9.80 ROTATION III ARKANSAS (Beam: 48.275) Scarlett Williams 9.725, Jaime Pisani 9.825, Jordan Salsberg 9.70, Shelby Salmon 9.175, Katherine Grable 9.85, Stacy Bartlett 9.10 BYU (Floor: 48.875) Megan Bain 9.775, Raquel Willman 9.725, Jessica Villegas 9.80, Mickell Merrell 9.725, Jennifer Lezeu 9.80, Haylee Rollins 9.775 ROTATION IV ARKANSAS (Floor: 48.95) Amy Borsellino 9.15, Stacy Bartlett 9.625, Bailee Zumwalde 9.725, Kelci Lewis 9.80, Katherine Grable 9.875, Jaime Pisani 9.925 BYU (Beam: 48.675) Madeleine Johnson 9.65, Megan Bain 9.725, Raquel Willman 9.60, Natalie Eyre 9.80, Jennifer Lezeu 9.775, Krysten Koval 9.725
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/19/2011