Michigan State University
Iowa
Spartans Unable to Hold Off Hawkeyes
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Jan. 14, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Michigan State gymnastics team traveled to No. 25 Iowa on Friday (Jan. 13) for its first road action of the season. The Spartans lost to the Hawkeyes 193.225-190.175 but Taira Neal and Ashley Noll each notched career-best performances.
"We had an extremely rough competition tonight," said head coach Kathie Klages. "We started out poorly on bars because we had a number of falls. We then went to vault and had a very good rotation, had a decent floor rotation, but then we went to the beam and fell apart. I'm disappointed in our performance and I look forward to getting in the gym and making corrections."
Redshirt sophomore Taira Neal led the Spartans on vault by posting a career-best score of 9.925 and earning the top spot in the event. Freshman Ashley Noll followed behind with a 9.825 mark, putting her in second place. Iowa's Maya Wickus and Tesla Cox each tallied scores of 9.725, which placed them in a tie for third in the event.
Michigan State also took home first place in the floor exercise thanks to Noll's career-best 9.825 mark. Senior Jackie Berg was tied for third in the event with a score of 9.725, pushing the Spartans to a 48.450 overall score in the event. Stevenson and Emma Willis gave the Hawkeyes second place with a tied 9.800 score.
The Spartans posted a team score of 45.900 on the beam, with Noll scoring 9.625, tying for third in the event. Iowa's Jessa Hansen posted a score of 9.825, which put her in first place.
Iowa claimed the top overall spot with Willis' all-around score of 38.775. Sophomore Dani Levy earned second place in the all-around category with 38.375 mark.
The Spartans will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 21) when they take on Penn State, Alabama and Cornell in a quad-meet in University Park, Pa. at 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
