By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
The No. 2 LSU Gymnastics team (2-1-1) dropped its second meet of the year at No. 8 Georgia (2-0) by a score of 197.200-196.850 on Friday night inside Stegeman Coliseum. It was LSU’s first loss to Georgia since Feb. 13, 2016.
“We were not sharp at all,” Clark said after the loss. “I’m not going to make excuses. You have to go into other people’s places and adjust to the equipment. We didn’t like the floor. But you have to execute.”
The Tigers started off on bars to begin the night as sophomore Lexi Zeiss led off with a 9.900. Senior Ashley Cowan followed with a 9.850. In the third spot, junior Madison Ulrich scored a 9.825. Sophomore Kailin Chio started her night off with a rare fall, totaling a 9.300. Senior Courtney Blackson followed Chio’s fall off with a 9.850 in the fifth spot before junior Konnor McClain anchored with a season-high 9.950 to bring LSU’s total to a 49.375.
The Tigers led the GymDogs 49.375-49.250 after the first rotation.
Zeiss, once more, led off for the Tigers, this time on vault. She scored a 9.850 while Ulrich followed with a 9.800. Next, sophomore Victoria Roberts made her first appearance of the night and scored a 9.650. Fifth-year senior Kathryn Weilbacher made her season debut and posted a 9.525 in the fourth spot, before junior Amari Drayton executed a 9.850 in the fifth spot. Chio remained poised after her fall on bars and anchored the rotation with a team-high 9.925 to close out the lineup and bring LSU’s score on vault to a 49.075.
At the halfway point, LSU trailed Georgia 98.525-98.450.
The Tigers had a chance to regain the lead on the floor.
Senior Emily Innes led things off with a 9.800. Ulrich followed in the second spot and matched her score with a 9.800 of her own. McClain made her first appearance on floor this season in the third spot and scored a 8.975 after encountering trouble on her tumbling passes. Chio competed in the fourth spot and posted a 9.850 before Drayton followed with a 9.575 in the fifth spot. Sophomore Kaliya Lincoln anchored the rotation with a huge routine, earning a career-high 9.925. The Tigers concluded the floor rotation with a 48.950.
LSU entered the last rotation trailing Georgia 147.725-147.400. The last chance to cut the GymDogs’ lead would come on beam.
Junior Kylie Coen got the beam team started with a steady 9.850. Zeiss finished a strong showing on the day with a 9.875 in only her second beam appearance ever before Drayton made her second career appearance on beam and delivered a career-best 9.925. Chio continued to carry that momentum in the fourth spot, scoring a 9.950 to match her career-high. Ulrich added a 9.850 in the fifth spot before McClain added a 9.800 as the anchor to close out the night and give the Tigers a 49.450 on the beam, their best event score of the night.
It wouldn’t be enough, though. Georgia would best LSU 197.200-196.850.
“Everything we want is still ahead of us,” Clark said. “You can see the stuff is there, but we’ve all got to be dialed in. You can’t have half the lineup do great and the other half checked out. You can see we have what we need, but this team has to adopt an attitude that this is unacceptable.”
The Tigers will get a chance to redeem themselves on Friday as they host No. 39 Kentucky (0-4) in their first home meet of the season at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6:30 p.m., ESPN2).
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