UCLA gymnastics ready to face Stanford after wake-up call at Oklahoma meet
Senior Brielle Nguyen recorded a 9.775 on balance beam against Oklahoma on Sunday. Against Utah the week before, Nguyen tied her career-high with a score of 9.900 on beam. (Joe Akira/Daily Bruin staff)
By Riley Segal
March 8, 2019 1:11 a.m.
The Bruins will face a familiar foe this weekend.
Coming off its first loss of the season to No. 1 Oklahoma (7-0, 1-0 Big 12), No. 2 UCLA gymnastics (7-1, 6-0 Pac-12) will compete against No. 24 Stanford (1-5, 1-5 Pac-12) at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday. Less than two months ago, the Bruins beat the Cardinal 197.225-195.125 in Palo Alto.
Despite the result of the two teams’ last matchup, the previous win against Stanford is at the back of UCLA’s mind.
“We’re not really worried about who comes in,” said senior Brielle Nguyen. “We’re just excited to have another opportunity to perform in Pauley. That’s fueling our fire in the gym because we haven’t been at home for awhile.”
Junior Kyla Ross said the loss to the Sooners on Sunday prompted a slight shift in training.
“I could tell a lot of people were more driven in practice,” Ross said. “Having gone undefeated before, I think everyone was definitely on a high but we definitely needed this to be able to show (that) it’s not going to come easy at nationals.”
Ross won the all-around against Oklahoma, scoring a 39.850. She also posted two perfect 10s in the meet – a feat no other gymnast in the country has accomplished this year. In addition to Ross’ 10s on uneven bars and vault, senior Katelyn Ohashi garnered a 10 on floor.
Despite Ross currently having the top all-around score in the country, coach Valorie Kondos Field is pulling her from floor this weekend in order to give her a rest.
“I honestly feel like I do better when I compete all-around, I’m not kidding,” Ross said. “I really love competing all four events because I just have a flow, so I honestly feel it’s kind of different when I take off an event. But, I’m definitely in need of a rest so I’m excited to have this one little break before postseason comes up. Those two weeks’ recovery (are) going to be key, so might as well get it in now.”
Stanford is coming off a 196.525-195.250 win against Arizona, its first victory and highest score of the season. However, the Cardinal have fallen to every other Pac-12 opponent.
In comparison, the Bruins’ lowest score of the season is a 197.225, which they scored against the Cardinal. However, after surpassing the 198 mark for two consecutive meets, UCLA dipped back down to 197.575 against Oklahoma.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Kondos Field said she sees the loss to the Sooners as a learning opportunity.
“We all agree it was the best thing for us because it was a nice, swift kick in the butt,” Kondos Field said. “We had a team meeting this morning and we talked about where the cracks in our foundation are. Some of them are how we train, and the majority are with the culture of our program and our integrity with what we do outside of the gym. (We have to) make sure we don’t have any cracks in the integrity of the foundation of our team and who we are.”
