CHAPEL HILL — In a hard-fought aerial battle at Carmichael Auditorium, State’s No. 25 gymnastics team lost 194.975-195.450 to No. 21 North Carolina.

The team was competing in its fourth meet in 10 days and second of the weekend, but coach Mark Stevenson said State didn’t look fatigued as it posted its third-best point total this season.

“It would have been easy for us to get tired and sort of let things slip away, but we didn’t,” Stevenson said. “I have no complaints with the kids. We’ve gone three meets in a row now without counting a fault, and I don’t know that we’ve ever done that before.”

For the second consecutive season, State lost on the road to Carolina by a small margin. However, senior Leigha Hancock said that while her team went into Chapel Hill looking for a win, the result will not affect the team’s morale.

“This isn’t the meet that matters,” Hancock said. “Conference championships — that matters. That’s what the whole team thinks. We’re not OK with losing, but we’re not focused on this loss — we’re focused on EAGLs, and that’s what we really care about.”

Hancock tied for first on the floor and was second in all-around competition with 39.150 — a career-best. Freshman Brittney Hardiman also turned in a solid performance, scoring 9.825 on the vault and 9.775 on the beam.

“It feels amazing, especially to come back from my last meet, where I messed up a little bit,” Hardiman said. “But it feels really good to go out there and feel like you did your job for the team.”

Carolina brought its A-game against the Pack, posting its best score of the season. UNC sophomore Christine Nguyen almost single-handedly secured the win, taking the uneven bars, beam, all-around and tying for first in the floor and vault competitions.

“They had their best meet today; their highest score before this was a 194, and ours was over a 195,” Hancock said. “We got scored hard, but that’s OK because that will push us to work that much harder.”

Hancock said the next time her team faces Carolina, it expects a different outcome.

“We’re going to go to conference and go against Carolina, and we’re all going to have the same kind of judging — nobody’s going to be at home,” Hancock said. “All the judging will be neutral. If we do what we did today, it will come out in our favor.”

Stevenson said that, for now, the thing State’s gymnasts need most is a day of rest.

“The good news is we get to see them again,” he said.