UNC Heads West to Arizona for Last Regular Season Road Meet

Friday, March 9

Tucson, AZ

8:30 p.m.

North Carolina

University of Arizona

Senior Madison Nettles hit a career-high score of 9.950 on floor in her last quad meet against NC State, Michigan, and Brown.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 8, 2018 | Women's Gymnastics

Live Stats Live Video

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — In their last road competition of the regular season, the North Carolina Tar Heels will travel across the country to Tucson, Ariz. to take on the Arizona Wildcats, San Jose State Spartans, and Air Force Falcons at 8:30 p.m. EST on Friday, March 9th.

"We have never competed in Arizona in a regular season competition so this is going to be a new experience certainly for everybody on our team and for me," said UNC head coach Derek Galvin. "We're looking forward to it… Hopefully the tempo and pace of the quad meet will be exciting."

Though the Tar Heels took second in the team competition against No. 6 Alabama last week, Carolina once again showed consistency on floor. For the third straight week, UNC received a rotation score of at least 49.400 on floor exercise. The team also extended the streak of earning 49.000 or above on both vault and floor to five consecutive competitions.

Now ranked sixth in the nation on floor exercise with an RQS of 49.315, the Tar Heels are hoping to channel their confidence to other events. Carolina's goals are to focus on controlling what they can control, performing up to the levels they are capable of, and proving their team deserves a spot in the NCAA tournament.

"There's more going on in the gym [in a quad meet] so it creates a different type of atmosphere, but this is another opportunity," said Galvin. "We have three remaining meets on our schedule… Those three scores will determine whether we qualify onto the NCAA championships as a team or whether we have individuals who qualify. Obviously, we would prefer to qualify as an entire team so this meet, the Pittsburgh meet, and the EAGL Championships are very important. Every meet throughout the season is important, but we've only got three more opportunities to boost our qualifications. Having a meet with a team like Arizona, and certainly the other teams as well, the judges are going to see a quality and a level of gymnastics that they will hopefully assess appropriately."

WEEK #9: CAROLINA FALLS TO ALABAMA BUT CONTINUES FLOOR SUCCESS

The North Carolina Tar Heels fell to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 194.975 to 197.525, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. following a 10-day break from competition.

UNC kicked off the night on bars, totaling 47.875 in the event. Morgan Lane led Carolina with a sixth-place score of 9.825 and Kaitlynn Hedelund placed eighth with her score of 9.750. Mekyllah Williams, Raine Gordon, and Madison Nettles all contributed 9.600, 9.500, and 9.200, respectively.

In the second rotation, the Tar Heels broke the 49.000 threshold for the fifth straight week with a score of 49.150. Khazia Hislop finished in a three-way tie for first with a score of 9.875, and Madison Nettles and Alexis Allen also placed in three-way ties for fourth and seventh with scores of 9.850 and 9.825. Madison Hargrave and Mikayla Robinson tied each other with scores of 9.800, and Morgan Lane received a 9.775 from the judges for her vault.

Although the Crimson Tide took two first-place scores on floor, Carolina had the four next best performances in the event and scored 49.400 as a team. Morgan Lane and Khazia Hislop took their spots on the third-place step of the podium with scores of 9.900, and Madison Hargrave and Mikayla Robinson both scored 9.875 for fifth-place accolades. Madison Nettles' score of 9.850 tied three Alabama gymnasts for seventh, and Lily Dean received 9.800 for her performance.

Carolina gymnastics closed out the competition on balance beam and earned an event total of 48.550. Khazia Hislop and Morgan Lane tied again with scores of 9.900, this time for second-place honors. Raine Gordon and Alexis Allen found themselves in a four-way tie for seventh with their scores of 9.825, and Kaitlynn Hedelund added 9.100 to the Tar Heels' total.

Despite placing second of two all-around competitors, Morgan Lane tied her career-best all-around score of 39.400 against the No. 6 team in the country. Her scores included a 9.775 on vault, 9.825 on bars, 9.900 on beam, and 9.900 on floor.

THE OPPONENTS: ARIZONA, SAN JOSE STATE, AIR FORCE

The host team Arizona is ranked 34th in the nation with an RQS of 195.520, just a mere three spots ahead of North Carolina whose RQS of 195.300 ranks 37th. The Wildcats are only 1-8 on the season, but they have faced a tough bunch of competitors with teams like No. 4 Utah, No. 10 Arkansas, No.11 Oregon State, No. 12 Arizona State, and No. 15 Denver. In their meet against Oregon State, Arizona only competed on vault with two gymnasts which pulls down their average to a score of 189.906, but they hit a season-high 196.325 against Utah three weeks earlier.

San Jose State holds a season record of 9-9 after sweeping the competition in their home quad meet on Sunday, March 4th with a season-high score of 195.050. The Spartans rank 50th on the national stage with an RQS of 194.345 and an average of 194.150.

Air Force follows closely behind SJSU in 54th with an RQS of 194.085. With a season record of 6-7 and a season-high score of 194.500, the Falcons enter the quad meet at Arizona five days removed from a loss to San Jose State in that March 4th quad meet.