University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Looks to Repeat Win in Rematch Against the Tribe
March 2, 2017 | Women's Gymnastics
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The University of North Carolina gymnastics team will return to competition on Saturday as the Tar Heels once again face William & Mary just one week after defeating the Tribe, 195.625 - 191.250. The Tar Heels and the Tribe will compete on William & Mary's home turf in Williamsburg, Va. in their third meeting and second head-to-head competition of the season. This week, UNC hopes to build upon its recent successes and prepare for the upcoming post-season.
Given the team's four-week streak of 195.000 or better performances, UNC's head coach Derek Galvin believes that his team has the potential to become even more of a post-season contender.
Galvin said, “A lot of things can happen over the last two weeks of the season. We want to put ourselves in a better position, the best position possible to get a full team qualification to the post season.”
Although the Tar Heels did not have as many record performances as the previous week versus New Hampshire, the Carolina gymnasts showed the perseverance necessary for a post-season run. Galvin was impressed with the resiliency of some of his athletes:
“[Kaitlynn Hedelund] saved that [bars] routine. The way her hand landed on her bail to handstand, she could have easily fallen off but she fought for it. If something goes a little bit off in a routine, you have to be able to adapt and respond to it in a way that you get the most out of it. Even though she didn't have a personal best, the impressive thing in that routine was she saved it.
Galvin continued, “There's something we learn in that process. For her individually, she learns it's not over – just because you make a little mistake, that doesn't mean you don't have to get back on track and finish strong. The value of the mistakes this week is that nobody lost their focus. They recomposed, got back on task, and did good quality routines despite the mistakes.”
UNC hopes to continue to show the depth of their athleticism and adaptability in this week's rematch with Wiliam & Mary.
WEEK #8: WILLIAM & MARY RETURN TO THE TRIANGLE AREA
North Carolina sent off its seniors, competitor Christina Pheil and retired gymnast Ashley Landry, with one last home win in Carmichael Arena on Friday evening. Besting William & Mary 195.625 to 191.250, the Tar Heels posted yet another score above 195.000 and extended their streak to four consecutive meets.
Coming off of a record-filled week, UNC saw multiple scores tie season highs and in some cases career bests. The Heels saw the most improvement this week in the vault competition in which the team had a 48.900. Kaitlynn Hedelund and Madison Nettles took home the top two accolades on vault, as each tied their personal bests of the season with respective scores of 9.850 and 9.825. Pheil finished off her gymnastics career in Chapel Hill by tying the career record that she had set one week earlier. Mikayla Robinson's performance also matched her career best with a score of 9.700, her highest score of the season.
North Carolina posted overall scores of 48.925 on bars and 48.950 on beam to capture the top five spots in both events. Nettles earned first place on the bars with a score of 9.875. Emma Marchese and Morgan Lane tied for second place with scores of 9.800, while Kaitlynn Hedelund's score of 9.750 earned her fourth-place recognition. In another Tar Heel tie, Mekyllah Williams and Grace Donaghy notched scores of 9.700. On beam, Khazia Hislop (9.875), Marchese (9.850), Lane (9.825), Hedelund (9.800) and Donaghy (9.650) swept the event's competition with their performances in the third rotation.
The Heels also snagged the top three scores on the floor exercise. Led by Lane with a score of 9.900, Hislop (9.850) took home second place, and Robinson followed closely behind in third with a 9.800. Nettles and Marchese earned scores of 9.650 and 9.600 for their routines, contributing to the team's fourth rotation score of 48.800.
All-arounders Morgan Lane (39.300) and Madison Nettles (38.800) brought home another first place and second place title for the Heels. With scores of 9.775 (vault), 9.800 (bars), 9.825 (beam), and 9.900 (floor), Lane earned no less than fourth place in each of the competitions and scored an overall of at least 39.300 for the third week in a row. In addition to scores of 9.825 on vault, 9.650 on floor, and 9.450 on beam, Nettles stuck the landing in her bars routine for a career-best score of 9.875.
Galvin knows a record night like the New Hampshire meet cannot realistically happen every weekend. He said, “We don't go into a competition shooting to break personal bests. We've been in meets in some points in the past where people have done what I thought were the best routines I had ever seen them do, and the score may be less than what they did the week before when they had more execution deductions. It really depends upon the judges sometimes.”
To counter the objectivity of gymnastics scoring, Galvin has a strategy to set his team up for victory. “Rather than driving ourselves to a distraction by focusing on those things, what we focus on is the quality of the routines,” Galvin explains. “We want to do well-executed routines, expressive routines certainly on floor exercise, control our landings, cut out extra steps, hit our handstands on bars… When we do those things, then we end up in a situation where someone may set a personal best.”
THE OPPONENT
William & Mary will host North Carolina for the first time in 2017 after first facing the Tar Heels in a quad meet at NC State and then in last weekend's dual meet in Carmichael Arena. After posting a score of 191.250 against UNC, the Tribe's highest score of the season remains 193.025. This weekend's meet is slated to begin on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Kaplan Arena.
Players Mentioned
