The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

UNC gymnastics falls to No. 4 UCLA in regular-season finale

Despite high scores from junior Morgan Lane, The North Carolina gymnastics team (11-4, 5-1 EAGL) wrapped up their regular season, falling to No. 4 UCLA, 197.800-195.400, on Sunday.

What happened?

Pauley Pavilion drew out a giant crowd of roughly 8,500 fans, mostly Bruins. However, this didn’t faze the Tar Heels. The energetic crowd produced the college and EAGL Championship environment that head coach Derek Galvin desired.

UNC had a slow start to the match, scoring 48.225 on bars, while UCLA scored a 49.450. The highest scorer for the Tar Heels was junior Madison Nettles at a 9.725, while the Bruins’ Peng-Peng Lee posted a perfect score. The low performance by UNC was due to a fall and to a few extra swings, which can deduct over 1/10 of a point.

Next was vault, UNC’s highest score of the night at 49.100. According to Galvin, this was the best vault he’s seen in years. First-year Alexis Allen was .025 off from her career high while teammate Lane posted a career-high 9.875. Lane was the only Tar Heel to receive recognition for the event by tying for second.

In floor, which happens to typically be the strongest event for UNC, the Tar heels tied their season high with a score of 49.000. Lane tied for fourth with a 9.900 and first-year Khazia Hislop, previously ranked first for EAGL floor, scored a 9.775.

The final event was beam. This event concluded first-years Emma Marchese’s first meet as an all-around competitor. She had the second-highest score for UNC on beam at 9.825 while teammate Lane tied for third overall at 9.900.

Who stood out?

Lane stood out in every event. Although she couldn’t pull off first in the four events, she placed first for all-around with a season high of 39.375 — just .025 off her career high.

For the fourth time within the last five meets, junior Madison Nettles scored a 9.825 or higher on the vault.

When was it decided?

The first event for UNC, bars, was enough to seal the Tar Heels’ fate. Falling 1.225 short of UCLA, the team spent the rest of the meet trying to catch up to the Bruins, who had a competitor post a perfect score on bars and beam, respectively.

Why does it matter?

As the final meet of the season, the strong but young UNC team had the opportunity to pull off an unexpected upset. Despite the loss, the Tar Heels still posted season-high scores to close out the regular season. With the EAGL Championship a week away, this would’ve been a big confidence booster to beat a ranked team; however, the high scores were enough to boost North Carolina to No. 3 in the EAGL conference.

Where do they play next?

On Saturday, the Tar Heels will head to Raleigh for the EAGL Championship at 2 p.m.

@mwc13_3

sports@dailytarheel.com

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.