The Arizona gymnastics team lost a close match to No. 3 UCLA 196.375-193.675 in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Even though the Wildcats lost, they still improved their score by more than a full point compared to their previous meet.

“”I definitely think we improved from the week before,”” said UA assistant coach Colleen Johnson. “”But we were definitely not as nervous and we hit a lot more routines. In that respect, we were better.””

Even though the squad improved as far as points are concerned, Johnson still feels that the team still has room for improvement.

“”Our whole demeanor and atmosphere of the team was a lot more confident and that showed in our performance,”” Johnson said. “”But we still have a ways to go. We haven’t reached the full potential of the team yet.””

Throughout the entire meet, the Wildcats appeared to be able to keep even with the Bruins, until they struggled in the their final event: the beam.

“”Our beam team is a very new team in terms of people being out there,”” Johnson said. “”We’re still playing with some new people, so we’re doing a lot of trial and error. We’re still on the learning curve and there’s just not enough time; we have to make the changes now.””

The main change that Johnson emphasized as being the most important is figuring out the strongest overall lineup of the team.

UA looked best in the floor event where they scored 48.875 points. However, this strong effort still trailed UCLA’s 49.275. Arizona freshman Deanna Graham was the top scorer on the floor with 9.825 points, in what was only the second meet of her college career.

Sophomore Colleen Fisher led Arizona in the individual for the second meet in a row with 38.775 points.

“”UCLA is now number two in the country and our skill level matched if not exceeded UCLA’s,”” Johnson said. “”If we continue to clean it up then I think we can continue to improve. And we might be doing better, but we still feel that we’re stronger and can move up more.””