No. 2 LSU gymnastics (11-3, 5-2 SEC) will host North Carolina (5-11, 1-5 ACC) for its regular season finale and senior night tonight.
It’s the final home meet of the season and there will be a tribute the 11 seniors on the team after the meet.
Haleigh Bryant, Chase Brock, Elena Arenas and Olivia Dunne are all seniors on the team and could come back for a fifth year. Cammy Hall, Jillian Hoffman, Kiya Johnson, Kai Rivers, Savannah Schoenherr and Alyona Schennikova are all graduate students. Sierra Ballard is a graduate student but still has a fifth year of eligibility.
“I’ve not decided if I’m coming back for a fifth year yet,” Dunne said. “I could, but I haven’t really thought about it yet. I’m still focused on the end of this year and bringing home the national championship.”
LSU is 5-0 all-time against UNC. Friday’s matchup will be the second time the two teams have met in the PMAC. The Tar Hills lost their final home meet of the season 196.525-197.800 against Kentucky last Friday. The score was their second highest as a team this season.
UNC junior Lali Dekanoidze leads the ACC with a 9.842 average on vault. Her NQS of 9.855 on vault and 9.885 on bars both rank third in the ACC.
LSU won the Podium Challenge last Friday night in the Raising Cane’s River Center. It beat No. 14 Auburn, George Washington and Texas Woman’s. The Tigers’ score of 198.425 was their second highest score on the season and the highest away score in program history.
The win saw LSU improve its NQS to the highest in school history. It was the first time LSU had an NQS over 198. The Tigers also set a new program NQS record on floor after scoring a 49.675 on the event at the meet to improve their NQS to 49.695, the highest floor NQS in LSU and NCAA history.
Haleigh Bryant recorded back-to-back perfect 10’s on vault and bars. Her perfect score on vault completed a season slam as she now owns a perfect score in every event this year.
Olivia Dunne had a career-high 9.900 on floor and Savannah Schoenherr put up a season high 9.950on vault. Bryant and Schoenherr both picked up SEC awards for their performances at the Podium Challenge.
Bryant was named SEC Gymnast of the Week for the sixth time this yead and the 11th time in her career. Schoenherr was named Co-Specialist of the Week.
Bryant is the top performer in the country for the eighth week in a row. She is No. 1 in the all-around and owns an NQS of 9.900 or higher in every event. Kiya Johnson is No. 14 in the all-around rankings with an NQS of 39.570.
“It was a productive weekend and we got everything we wanted out of it. Now looking forward to this week, we need to continue this momentum that we have as we move toward the postseason,” LSU head coach Jay Clark said. “We look forward to celebrating our seniors and getting back in front of our fans, but we still have business to take care of and we need to go out there and compete at a high level.”
The meet between UNC and LSU will be streamed on SEC Network+. Team introductions will begin at 7:19 p.m. and the first vault set is scheduled for 7:32 p.m.
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