LSU gymnastics finds their footing at home, securing perfect ten in win over Kentucky
LSU gymnastics secured their first win of the season in their home opener, outscoring Kentucky 198.050 - 195.725.
LSU spent two weeks on the road to open the season, and a home meet was much needed for the Tigers.
“Coming back in here is kind of just what the doctor ordered,” head coach Jay Clark said. “We needed to take a big step forward after a little bit of a disappointing performance the previous week. And I thought we did that.”
Feeding off the sold-out crowd, LSU found some consistency that it missed last week, recording scores at least two scores over a 9.900 on every event.
The Tigers took that even further, with four scores over a 9.900 on bars, four on beam and five on floor.
LSU started off on vault, led by breakout athlete Lexi Zeiss, recording a 9.900 and sending the PMAC into a frenzy.
That was followed up by a 9.825 from Konnor McClain and then a set of 9.7s from freshman Nina Ballou and Amari Drayton.
LSU found their stride with a 9.825 from Kaliya Lincoln. But Kailin Chio took it to the next level, sticking her landing and putting up a 9.950.
LSU took to bars next.
The Tigers found a stride on this event, with four scores over a 9.900. Zeiss led off with a 9.925, and in the third spot Chio posted a 9.900, followed by Courtney Blackson’s 9.950 and anchored by McClain’s 9.900.
“They kind of captured some momentum,” Clark said. “Then when you do that, you got to be able to hold that momentum.”
LSU transition to beam, and picked up right where they left off, another set of four scores over a 9.900.
Following scores of 9.850 and a 9.825 form Kylie Coen and Zeiss, LSU started to make the 9.9s pour in.
Drayton and Lincoln posted a 9.925, followed by McClain’s 9.950. Chio had to anchor strong though, and she did, posting a 10.
Chio’s perfect score is LSU’s first this season, and the first perfect 10 in the country on beam this season.
“She does that every day in practice,” Zeiss said. “So it's not shocking for us to see it's exciting to see the 10, but it's nothing new for us.”
But LSU did not stop.
On floor, a lead off 9.925 from Emily Innes set the tone early.
A 9.900 from Nina Ballou was massive for momentum, a 9.825 from halted things a bit, but LSU quickly recovered stringing together a three piece of 9.9s.
Drayton posted a 9.900 in the fourth spot, followed by Chio’s 9.925 and then anchoring it all was Lincoln. She put up a 9.950, the highest score of the event.
LSU looks to take this wave of momentum as they travel to Missouri next Friday, with the meet starting at 6 p.m. CT.
