Coming off of a recent loss to No. 15 Georgia Jan. 16, the NC State gymnastics team had only had four days to rest, recover and two days of practice before Friday night’s meet against Ball State and William & Mary in Reynolds Coliseum. The team split the tri-meet with a score of 194.850, losing to Ball State by only one-tenth of a point, but beating William & Mary’s score by over two points.
“[It’s] always disappointing to lose by a tenth, but that’s the nature of our sport,” head coach Mark Stevenson said. “We’ll have a lot more chances this year to win.”
The Wolfpack started off on vault and performed really well. Each competitor scored a 9.775 or better, and junior Chelsea Knight scored a 9.85 to give the team season-high score of 49.025 on vault, beating both Ball State and William & Mary on vault.
Sophomore Maggie Tamburro fell on her vault landing, appearing to hold the back of her knee. After going to see the trainers for an evaluation, she was on crutches for the rest of the night. She competes in every event and had to be replaced tonight, and depending on the severity of the injury, the team might have to replace her long term.
Knight, one of the team’s best gymnasts on arguably every event, fell on the uneven bars and was not able to score. Overall, Wolfpack did well on bars with a team score of 48.475.
Next, NC State put up a decent performance on the balance beams. With sophomore Caitlyn Fillard having the best score of 9.75, the team scored a 48.4 overall on beam, which was slightly behind William & Mary’s score.
The Wolfpack then dominated on the floor. Freshman Drew Grantham put up a 9.8 to start off and it only got better from there. Sophomore Paris Phillips had a career-high 9.9 to put the Pack ahead of Ball State 194.875 to 194.4 and blowing William & Mary out of the water.
Paris Phillips had an outstanding night, coming in third place on vault, first on floor and finishing first all-around with an overall score of 39 points. Having competed in what was basically a home meet in Athens, Georgia, where Paris and her sister Alexa are from, they both seemed to be excited and ready to compete, and performed admirably.
While the team is still improving, Stevenson is confident in the direction it is heading.
“They have done better today than they have so far this year, [getting] all of the kinks out,” Stevenson said.
The Pack showed promise in Friday’s meet and has shown steady progression as the season has gone by. The down side for the team is that it will need to find someone to step into Tamburro’s shoes until she returns. The Wolfpack looks to continue its improvement into its next meet, which takes place against Southern Utah in Reynolds Coliseum Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
