By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012):
San Jose State gymnastics will have the opportunity to face one of the top teams in the nation as they visit Pauley Pavilion tonight against No. 3 UCLA.
The Spartans are coming off two quad meets with consecutive 195.000-plus performances with first and second place finishes, respectively.
The Bruins enter the night with a 197.725 overall average score per meet, which is behind only Oklahoma and LSU in the country.
SJSU on the other hand, is tied for 50th in the country with a regional qualifying score of 194.540.
The Spartans’ goal tonight should not be to take down the Bruins, but instead top the 195.000 mark to increase their average score.
Both the vault and floor have favored the Spartans recently, especially with sophomore Taylor Chan’s consistency in both routines. Chan has had back-to-back weeks with 9.900 floor routines, both career bests.
On the vault, Ellie Pascoe-Long has stepped it up. The 2017 second-team all-MPSF junior has 9.825 and 9.850 in the last two meets, respectively.
If the vault rotation score can stay above 49.000, which it has been so far this month the Spartans will again be in good shape.
Don’t be surprised to see Kaitlin Won high up on the leaderboard on the vault routine as well.
With the end of the season approaching fast, seniors Alisa Bogdan and Won will sure love to be difference makers Tuesday night.
As for the Bruins, five gymnasts will be honored for their Senior Meet Day at the conclusion of the meet.
This will be the last meet for SJSU before flying to Colorado Springs for the MPSF championships on March 24.
Tonight’s meet begins at 7 p.m. in Los Angeles.