No. 22 Arizona GymCats defeated No. 25 Stanford 196.15-195.225 in their annual “Think Pink” match on Sunday at McKale Center. Arizona secured its first conference win of the season after dropping the first four competitions in league play.
“We just had the brutal part of the Pac-12 schedule,” head coach John Court said. “The Pac-12 is hard from top to bottom, but there are certain meets you want to be competitive in and win. We felt like this meet was one of those opportunities to do that.”
In the first rotation, the GymCats were on vault and Stanford started on the uneven bars. Arizona’s leading scorers in the rotation were Peyton Bellows and Jenny Leung, who both posted a score of 9.850. Stanford was led by Kyla Bryant and Grace Garcia, who also posted scores of 9.850. After the first rotation, the score was tied at 49.050.
Arizona jumped out to a 98.1-97.225 lead in the second rotation as the GymCats headed to the uneven bars with Stanford on the vault event. Arizona’s leading scorer in the rotation was Christina Berg, who was able to post a score of 9.925. Stanford was once again propelled by Bryant, who earned a score of 9.875.
In the third rotation, Arizona was on the balance beam event while Stanford took on the floor routine event. In this rotation, Arizona’s Sirena Linton and Kennedi Davis led the team, each scoring 9.875, a season-high score for Linton on the balance beam. Stanford’s leading scorer in this rotation was Bryant again, who led the Cardinal with an almost perfect score of 9.9. After the third rotation, the Arizona GymCats led the Stanford Cardinal 147.050-146.300.
Arizona was on the floor routine event in the fourth and final rotation and Stanford was on the balance beam event. Maddi Leydin received a score of 9.875 on her routine, with Stanford’s leading scorer being Taylor Lawson scoring a 9.850. Arizona went on to win the meet 196.15-195.225.
The GymCats will be back in action as they hit the road next Sunday, Mar. 1, against the University of California at 3 p.m.
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