The No. 25 Arizona women’s gymnastics scored season highs, but suffered injuries as well during Sunday’s meet in Seattle against the Washington Huskies. The GymCats were defeated by the GymDawgs 197.175 to 195.425.
The GymCats started off on the uneven bars, their strongest event this season, with senior Krysten Howard who performed her piked jaeger followed by an “Arizona Stick” earning a 9.750. Sophomore Haylie Hendrickson performed a solid routine with a double layout dismount ending with another “Arizona Stick” for a score of 9.850.
Junior Victoria Ortiz soared over the high bar as she performed her Tkatchev with a double back tuck dismount landing with an “Arizona Stick” to earn her a new career high of 9.950.
“It felt amazing,” Ortiz said. “I was just doing my job, which is what I train in practice everyday. Being able to have my teammates back is exactly what I wanted to accomplish.”
Arizona had the lead going onto vault but scores remained low throughout the rotation. Senior Selynna Felix-Terrazas was back in the rotation for the second week in a row and she vaulted a 9.750. Sophomore Lauren Mattson had great height and distance off the vault earning her a high of 9.825. Sophomore Skyler Sheppard was injured during her landing on vault causing a possible knee injury.
The Huskies caught up to the Wildcats going into the third rotation where Arizona performed on floor. Mattson started the rotation landing strong on her double-back pike tumbling pass and finished with her double tuck earning her a 9.800. Howard showed power in her double back tuck and finished with a double pike earning her a 9.750. Junior Kennady Schneider finished off the rotation landing her double pike followed by a double back tuck to earn her a 9.775.
Howard started the fourth and final rotation on beam where she earned a 9.850. Hendrickson brought everything she had onto beam ending with an “Arizona Stick” earning her a new career high of 9.875.
“I have been solid every day in practice and that helps to build my confidence Hendrickson said. “It feels amazing being able to put everything together and have my teammates’ back. I was really happy.”
Schneider finished the rotation with a solid beam routine ending with an “Arizona Stick” earning her a 9.850 but it wasn’t enough to catch up to the Huskies and their star performer Haley Burleson. Burleson had the high score in three of the four events.
“Rising up against adversity seems to be a theme for us this year,” said Arizona head coach Tabitha Yim. “The will and spirit of this team has been inspiring, and we are proud of the many highlights throughout the night. We will continue to fight and work to get people healthy and into the line-ups to pique at the end of the year. The best is yet to come”
The GymCats will be hitting the road again on Saturday, Feb. 25 as they take on No. 4 UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif. at 2 p.m. MST. The meet will be shown on Pac-12 Networks.
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