University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NC State
Carolina Travels to NC State on Saturday
January 31, 2020 | Women's Gymnastics
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina gymnastics team looks to add another win to the season on Saturday, Feb. 1 as they travel down the road to Raleigh, N.C. for a match-up against NC State. The meet will take place in Reynolds Coliseum at 7 p.m. on the campus of North Carolina State University.
"We are excited about this weekend," said Coach Derek Galvin. "Competing at NC State is always exciting. They're an ACC as well as an EAGL rival. We saw them earlier this year at a neutral site, in Kentucky, and it was a very, very close meet. We know that anytime we step on the NC State campus it's going to be an intense competition."
The Tar Heels are looking to add another win after defeating William & Mary to start the season, finishing second in a quad meet in Kentucky, and earning a comeback win over Pittsburgh last week with a score of 193.625.
LAST WEEK
After falling behind by 1.475 points during the first two rotations of the meet against Pittsburgh, the Tar Heels were able to earn back 2.600 points on the Panthers on beam and floor to come out on top, 193.625-192.450.
"Last week the team did very well on floor exercise," said Galvin. "Beam and floor went well. Vault was good. We've done some different drills for bars, so our focus for our bar group was being more consistent in the performance of our routines."
The Tar Heels opened the meet against Pittsburgh on vault with a team score of 48.675. Seniors Khazia Hislop and Mikayla Robinson earned tied-podium finishes for first and third place, respectively, with scores of 9.875 and 9.800.
After the first rotation, North Carolina was leading by 0.025, but faced a tough rotation on bars. Senior Mekyllah Williams highlighted the Tar Heel performances and tied for second place with a score of 9.725 while sophomore Emery Summey and freshman Elizabeth Culton added respective scores of 9.650 and 9.625.
Despite falling behind after the first two rotations, Carolina came out fighting through the third rotation on beam with five solid scores to make up some ground on Pittsburgh. The Tar Heels combined for a team score of 48.600 with Culton (9.825), Hislop (9.800), and freshman Hannah Nam (9.725) taking first, second, and tying for third place.
The Tar Heels broke 49.000 for the second time this season with a score of 49.150 on their final rotation of the night — the floor exercise. All six Tar Heels scored higher than each of Pittsburgh's performers to complete the podium, and event, sweep. Hislop (9.900), Robinson (9.875), and Culton (9.850) claimed first, second, and third place, respectively, with close scores that helped the team continue to earn points over Pittsburgh.
Following the first three weeks of competition, the team's floor score is tied for 20th in the nation.
THE OPPONENT
NC State currently posts a record of 2-3. They started their season at Ohio State and lost the close competition 193.800-194.025. Then, they traveled to Kentucky for a quad meet with UNC and Lindenwood where they took third place to the home team and the Tar Heels. Last week, they defeated EAGL opponent Towson University 195.650-193.975.
Players Mentioned
