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No. 5 Utah’s 197.850 – 196.375 win over No. 18 Arizona was special because of where it occurred.
The Utes didn’t have the backing of nearly 15,000 fans plastered in red giving them energy, and they didn’t have the familiar confines of their home arena to give them a little extra confidence.
The Red Rocks put up their highest score of the season in foreign territory, just like where they’ll be when regionals and nationals come around.
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“It was especially nice to do it on the road,” said Utah co-head coach Greg Marsden. “It’s fun anywhere, but it’s especially meaningful because it’s on the road. We tell them all the time, ‘Postseason is going to be completely on the road, so you got to learn how to be a good road team,’ and this was a big step forward for us in terms of doing that.”
Through four meets, the Utes’ two highest scores have been recorded away from the Huntsman Center, something that should bode well for Utah when the championship meets begin.
Homecoming for Lopez and Lee
While the Utes may have been on the road, two Ute gymnasts were coming home.
Tucson native Kassandra Lopez and Kari Lee, who hails from Peoria, Ariz., both performed to sounds of cheers.
A week after being limited to one event with a sore Achilles, Lee was back performing in three events (beam, floor and vault) and ended up posting career highs in all three.
Meanwhile, Lopez scored a 9.900 on bars, her only event of the night.
“It’s big for them, because it’s big for their family and former club coaches and their former teammates,” Marsden said. “It gives all those people an opportunity for those people to come and see them, I know it was important for both of them that they had a good night tonight.”
Stover stumbles
Last week against UCLA, freshman Maddy Stover finally nailed her beam routine, scoring a 9.850. However, she needed a big balance check to stay on the apparatus against Arizona.
“It was her last skill, and I thought she realized that she had a good routine going and got a little conscious of that,” Marsden said. “You can’t do that, you can’t get up there and start thinking about the situation, you just have to stay in your choreography. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”
Marsden is expecting big things from Stover on the beam, and thinks most of her problems right now are just freshman mistakes. He claims it’s only a matter of time before Stover stops committing them.
“This is different for her, she’s not only doing it for herself but for her team and the expectation is to be almost perfect every night,” Marsden said. “If you let that leak into your head and your consciousness when you’re up on balance beam it’ll cost you little mistakes. I think we’ll get that worked, and as she gets more experience she’s going to be big time for us on balance beam.”
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