• Sacramento State makes its second trip to the Las Vegas/Southern Utah area in as many weeks when it travels to Cedar City, Utah, to take on 20th-ranked Southern Utah on Friday night at The Centrum.
• The Hornets enter the meet with a 2-2 overall record following its loss to then-#12 Kent State at the Lady Luck Classic on Jan. 14 in Las Vegas.
• Freshman Kailey Hanson led the team on vault, beam and floor, posting season highs in each event in the process.
• Southern Utah is 2-0 following its upset of defending national champion UCLA over the weekend. The Thunderbirds scored 194.750 in front of a crowd in excess of 5,000. Shannon Coughlin and Brooke Cersosimo helped seal the win, finishing first and second, respectively on floor.
• SUU leads the all-time series, 8-4, against Sacramento State and is 4-1 against the Hornets at home. However, the one Sacramento State victory came at the 2007 WAC Championships where the team claimed its second consecutive title.
THE LAST TIME OUT
The Hornets improved their team score by nearly four points but still came up short against #12 Kent State, 195.475-189.625. The meet was part of the Lady Luck Classic which was held at the South Point Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Much like its season-opening meet, Sacramento State began the contest with a solid score on vault. The team finished the rotation with a total of 48.150 and only trailed KSU by .775. Ashley Wooff and Kaila Kilwein began the second rotation by hitting their routines on bars. From that point, the next four Hornets fell leaving the team with a score of 46.600 and placing the team over three points behind the Golden Flashes.
The team’s struggles continued in the early portion of the third rotation, as the high score among the first four gymnast was 9.250. Hansen and senior Lissa Zamolo helped save the score with a 9.775 and 9.700, respectively.
Sacramento State closed the meet on floor with a total of 48.025. Hansen led the way with a 9.825 and was closely followed by a 9.750 from Amanda Blauvelt.
IN THE VAULT
The most consistent event for Sacramento State in the early part of 2011 has been vault. Through two meets, the team is averaging 48.138 and has broken the 48-point mark in both competitions. A big part of the team’s early success has been its balanced lineup which features a lot of fresh faces.
Among the 13 gymnasts who have competed this season, only Nicole Meiller was a regular in last year’s lineup. Leading the way is senior Amanda Bieber. The Littleton, Colo., native, who missed almost all of the last two seasons with a shoulder injury, has scored 9.725 and 9.700. Senior Amanda Blauvelt and freshmen Maddie Montoya and Kailey Hansen have also hit both of their vaults.
TOTAL TEAM EFFORT
Sacramento State sports a large gymnastics roster with 18 student-athletes on the list and the Hornets have needed every one of them in 2011. With Cayla Boyce, Jasmine Lipka and Stephanie Toubman yet to compete, Sacramento State has used each of the 15 remaining gymnasts in the lineup during the first two meets. Among those that have competed are six freshmen (including five true freshmen).
The one redshirt freshman is Kailey Hansen who is in her first year with the program after transferring from the University of Washington. Hansen has responded by winning floor during her first collegiate competition and then setting career highs in each of her three events at the Lady Luck Invitational. Not only were Hansen’s scores a career best, they were also the best on the team on vault, beam and floor this season.
