One more time, we’re gonna celebrate.
Wait, it’s already over?
Yes, it may feel like the season just started, but tonight marks the end of the regular season for LSU gymnastics. #2 LSU is coming off a first-place finish at the Purple and Gold Podium Challenge with a 198.425, second-best in school history and best outside the PMAC. Tonight, they celebrate a massive group of 11 seniors against #46 North Carolina. The meet is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SECN+, the streaming arm of the SEC Network that comes free with your SEC Network subscription, with Lyn Rollins and Kaleigh Dickson Abboud. For those going to the meet, doors open at 6:00 p.m., intros start at 7:19 p.m. and first vault is scheduled for 7:32 p.m. Stick around when the meet officially ends for a special presentation honoring the seniors.
Match-up history for LSU and UNC
LSU is 5-0 all-time against UNC, 3-0 all-time in the regular season and 1-0 at home. The last time the two teams met was that only meet in the PMAC, a tri meet that also included UIC on 2/20/2009. LSU beat UNC 197.400-194.775. This will be the first time the two teams have met in a dual meet.
About #46 North Carolina
Last season, UNC finished 36th in the country and 3rd at EAGLs. This year has been a season of transition as the Tar Heels moved to the ACC to be with their other sports. The ACC had a championship in 1984 before going on a long hiatus of sponsoring the sport.
UNC’s a team with a bunch of talent, but only three have scored at least 9.900 on multiple events.. Lali Dekanoidze is a junior vault and bars specialist who had three 9.975s on bars last season and holds a season high of 9.950 on bars and 9.925 on vault. The other two are from Louisiana. Kaya Forbes is a sophomore from Gonzales who’s been a staple of their vault and floor lineups and has a 9.900 on each. Their star all-arounder is junior Julia Knower (I’ll get ahead of the joke now: yes I know her, check out the interview I did with her here) from Mandeville, a club teammate of Sierra Ballard. She is currently fighting for one of the individual regionals spots in the all-around or on floor. Her season high on floor is a team-high 9.925, her vault high is a 9.900 and her all-around high is a 39.425.
UNC is 5-11 on the season and finished ACC play 1-5. They’re coming off a 197.800-196.525 loss at home against Kentucky. They rank 42nd on vault [48.990], 36th on bars [49.045], tied for 45th with West Virginia on beam [48.805] and 57th on floor [49.040]. Their regionals bubble can burst tonight if they don’t get at least a 197.575, .225 higher than the school’s all-time record. They had made regionals the past couple of years, but this season was pretty bad.
The Tar Heels are led by third-year head coach Danna Durante. Yes, that’s the former Georgia coach, and that means this meet features the last two Georgia head coaches to beat LSU. She is assisted by assistant coach Marie Denick, in her seventh year, assistant coach Mackenzie Caquatto-Jaworski, in her first year and the same Mackenzie Caquatto from Florida, and assistant coach Sami Durante, in her first year as an assistant after spending the past six years at LSU as either a gymnast or student assistant coach.
About #2 LSU
LSU is ranked 2nd on vault [49.420], tied for 3rd with Alabama on bars [49.530], 5th on beam [49.470] and 1st on floor [49.695]. A 49.750 on floor will give LSU the first ever 49.700 NQS on floor by an NCAA team.
Tonight’s meet will have exhibitions since it’s streaming on SECN+, and there’s a good chance some of the seniors get the chance to showcase routines they may not have competed before there. Head coach Jay Clark said that it’s important they maintain their momentum, so I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect massive changes to lineups just for senior night. Let’s get the NQS chatter out of the way since there isn’t much there.
NQS-capades
LSU can’t move their NQS much. They’re currently sitting with a 198.125, and this is a home meet. The Tigers are looking to drop a 198.300, but their season high is a 198.475. Every improvement of .025 of a score counted in a team’s NQS increases the team’s NQS by .005. Here is every possible increase in the NQS.
198.325: 198.130
198.350: 198.135
198.375: 198.140
198.400: 198.145
198.425: 198.150
198.450: 198.155
198.475 or greater: 198.160
The senior night celebration is going to be longer than usual this year, but I highly recommend you stick around for it. It may be the last chance to see some of these incredible people on the PMAC floor. Savannah Schoenherr and Cammy Hall will be making their final appearances in the PMAC as gymnasts, and it’s incredible to see the impact they’ve had in their short time here. Jillian Hoffman had better come back next year because I will be very sad if she never gets a shot to do something as a Tiger. Kai Rivers’ career came to a heartbreaking end when she thought she’d get one more shot, but her spirit will get to beam in her new home one last time. Alyona Shchennikova will take to the floor one last time…maybe. If you don’t love her after watching “The Climb” season one, you need to rewatch it. Kiya Johnson will compete for perhaps the final time, she does have a redshirt season if she wants it, and might close out an era in LSU’s history that predates the NCAA championship. The fourth-year senior class of Elena Arenas, Sierra Ballard, Chase Brock, Haleigh Bryant and Olivia Dunne have the option to come back, though Elena’s confirmed she’s done, but if this is the end, it’s been one of the most incredible rides in program history. They’ve seen every crazy thing possible, made history for themselves and for this program, and created some of the best emotional memories I have. These 11 make up a group that will go down as one of the best, most clutch, most fun, most well-beloved groups in this program’s history. Thankfully, they’ll get a packed crowd to see them out unlike the seniors from their freshman year (excluding the fact most of them came back for a fifth year).
This season has flown by quickly, and it’s been really fun. It’s time see one more lights-out performance before dimming the lights on the regular season.