For a moment on Friday night, the MSU gymnastics team had upset the No. 18 Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign, Ill.
However, after a brief inquiry, the official score gave the Fighting Illini an extra .025 points; thus, the teams tied at 195.175, and neither team left Huff Hall with the Victory Plank.
The Spartans finally seemed to work out their balance beam woes, as they scored a season high 49.000 on the event behind the performance of sophomore Taira Neal, who scored a career-high 9.825.
Sophomore Sarena Bumbarger took first on balance beam with a personal best 9.875 score.
On vault, Neal took first place for the fourth straight meet with a career-high-tying score of 9.925, followed by freshman Ashley Noll, who tallied a score of 9.800.
Uncharacteristically, the Spartans struggled on the floor rotation, coming away with a team score of 48.525, their lowest-scoring event of the night. The Fighting Illini took all places in the event.
Senior Jackie Berg took first place on the uneven parallel bars, tying her personal best with a score of 9.875 to help the Spartans to an event score of 48.775.
“I was disappointed in the floor exercise because I thought our gymnasts performed the best they have this year, but the scores didn’t reflect that,” head coach Kathie Klages said in a release from the athletics department.
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