Gymnastics Rallies on Floor to Soar Past Kent State, 194.700-193.800

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Trailing after three rotations, the Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team recorded a 48.950 on florr to cap off a 194.700-193.800 comeback win over the Golden Flashes of Kent State Univeristy in a Mid-American Conference dual Saturday, Feb. 7 inside the Convocation Center. The victory marked the sixth straight for the Eagles as they improved to 7-1 on the 2015 campaign, including 2-1 in MAC play, while KSU falls to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in MAC competition.

The Green and White notched a season-high 48.825 on the vault, while adding a 48.375 on the bars, a 48.550 on the beam before rounding out the dual with a 48.950 on floor.

"I'm really proud of the team tonight. We started strong on vault but when we went to bars we had to count our first real mistake for the season, and the team looked like we had lost our focus," noted Coach Santos "I challenged them after bars to attack the next two events and finish the meet strong, and that is exactly what they did. They looked confident on beam and really had a great floor rotation to finish the meet and secure the win."

Senior Anna Willette was the lone all-around competitor, tallying a 38.975 in her fourth career all-around performance. Willette grabbed the first-place finish on the vault, tying her season-best with a 9.825 and capturing her fourth all-around title of the season.

Behind Willette's 9.825 and first-place finish on the vault, the Eagles got off to a fast start in the first rotation with a 48.825 to take a narrow .025 lead over the Golden Flashes who notched a 48.800 on bars. Freshman Julia Schwartz grabbed a career-high with a 9.800 and a second-place finish, while Kendall Valentin earned a 9.775, and Sydney McEachern nabbed a 9.725 in the event. The Green and White rounded out scoring with a 9.700 from Paulina Miller and a 9.525 from Catie Conrad.

Moving to the bars, EMU was propelled by a career-best 9.775 from senior Nikki Paterson, falling just short of the crown to Kent State's Chelsea Drooger who grabbed a 9.800 in the event. Following Paterson, Valentin notched a 9.750 and Carinna Lo Bello earned a 9.725 in her first event of the evening. Despite a team score of 48.375 on the bars, KSU took control of the meet with a 48.725 on the vault.

EMU saw success on the beam, outscoring Kent State, 48.550-47.975, despite the Golden Flashes' Rachel Sypinski event-high score of 9.800. Valentin led the EMU charge with a team-best 9.750 on the apparatus, while Lo Bello, Lacey Rubin, and Willette all earned matching 9.725's in the event. Despite Eastern's success on the beam, the Eagles went into the final event of the evening trailing KSU, 145.825-145.750.

With the Eagles in striking distance going into the final roation, the Green and White took advantage on the floor exercise, one of its best rotations. Living up to expectations, EMU continued to shine on the floor, outscoring the Golden Flashes by 0.65 with a team score of 48.950 in its final event of the night that was enough to leapfrog the vistiors and secure the victory. Redshirt-senior Chantelle Loehner captured her third floor title of the season with a score of 9.825, while McEachern and Willette each tied career highs with identical 9.800 for the Eagles. Freshman Rachel Slocum earned a career-high 9.775 for the third time this year, while Lo Bello and Miller both broke the 9.700 threshold with scores of 9.750 and 9.725, respectively.

"Teams need to work through adversity during the course of a season, so I am really proud of how the group responded on the last two rotations," mentioned the Eagles' head coach. "Being able to come from behind and beat a strong MAC opponent in Kent State shows resiliance and their ability to bounce back from a mistake."

For the first time this season, the Eagles will follow a home meet by remaining in Ypsilanti instead of hitting the road for their next competition. Eastern Michigan will square off against the University of Illinois-Chicago for the second time in three weeks. After extinguishing the Flames at the Michigan/Illinois Challenge, EMU will look for a similar outcome in the non-conference dual Sunday afternoon, Feb. 15. The meet will begin inside the Convocation Center at 1 p.m. For those who cannot make the meet, it can be viewed on the EMU's subscription-based streaming service, Eagle All-Access.

EMU Results (* = career-high scores)

Vault
1. Willette, Anna 9.825
2. Schwartz, Julia 9.800*
4. Valentin, Kendall 9.775
8. McEachern, Sydney 9.725
9. Miller, Paulina 9.700
12. Conrad, Catie 9.525

Bars
2. Paterson, Nikki 9.775*
4. Valentin, Kendall 9.750
T7. Lo Bello, Carrina 9.725
9. Willette, Anna 9.625
10. Conrad, Catie 9.500
12. Rubin, Lacy 9.200

Beam
2. Valentin, Kendall 9.750
T3. Lo Bello, Carrina 9.725
T3. Rubin, Lacey 9.725
T3. Willette, Anna 9.725
6. Ebeyer, Kimberly 9.625
12. Gervais, Natalie 9.075

Floor
1. Loehner, Chantelle 9.825
T2. McEachern, Sydney 9.800*
T2. Willette, Anna 9.800*
T6. Slocum, Rachel 9.775*
9. Lo Bello, Carrina 9.750
10. Miller, Paulina 9.725

All-Around
1. Willette, Anna 38.975

Gymnastics Rallies on Floor to Soar Past Kent State, 194.700-193.800

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Players Mentioned

Catie Conrad

Chantelle Loehner

Sydney McEachern

Paulina Miller

Nikki Paterson

Lacey Rubin

Jules Schwartz

Rachel Slocum

Kendall Valentin

Anna Willette

Eastern Michigan Athletics