“They were more aggressive and at least attacked the event,” head coach Kathie Klages said. “I would much rather have my girls falling while they’re attacking the event than holding back. So I’m really pleased that they at least attacked.”

The Spartans started strong on the beam as senior Jackie Berg led off with a score of 9.600, followed by sophomore Sarena Bumbarger’s mark of 9.725 and sophomore Alex Pace’s meet-high score of 9.775. However, sophomore Dani Levy struggled on the event and finished with an 8.400, followed by a 9.200 score by sophomore Gillian Carr.

MSU also had some difficulty on the uneven parallel bars, which Klages characterized as “weird.” After Levy fell during her routine and scored a 9.025, Berg uncharacteristically missed her mount and fell to the mat.

“I’ve never ever done that, so I didn’t really know how to do what I was supposed to after that,” she said. “So I just gathered myself and tried to do the best routine I could do.”

Berg completed her routine to near perfection, but the early mishap cost her, and she finished with a score of 9.300. However, she said she couldn’t dwell on the mistake.

“I let myself get mad for five minutes, and then remember that I have to go to beam,” Berg said. “I’m the lead person on beam so I have to let it go and get back to the meet because that’s where my team needs me.”

The Spartans finished with the top-three gymnasts in all events, and Klages specifically mentioned sophomore Taira Neal’s performance on the vault and bars rotations where she recorded scores of 9.875 and 9.700, respectively.

However, Neal said the Spartans have some cleaning up to do before Saturday’s home meet against Pittsburgh.

“We still have more improvements that we can make,” Neal said. “We had little mistakes on every event, so we just have to keep that momentum going, keep working on those little mistakes and continue moving forward.”