After a couple days off, the No. 7 Utah gymnastics team (4-0) is back at it again as it heads on the road to face its toughest opponent in the Pac-12, UCLA.
After their best meet of the season on Monday, the Red Rocks hope to continue their momentum when they head into a tough crowd in Southern California. Sophomore Samantha Partyka is looking forward to the challenge of beating the Bruins while continuing her great form as an all-arounder.
“It’s going to be exciting to go out there and compete against them,” said Partyka. “The plan is to just go out there and do what we do in practice. We just have to do the best we can.”
The No. 5-ranked Bruins (2-2) have always been in contention with the Red Rocks in conference play, and will be hoping to knock off their closest rival in pursuit of their first conference championship in four years.
Utah, on the other hand, wants to continue its dominance in the conference by knocking off the Bruins. UCLA has had a harder schedule through the first four meets of the season, with its losses coming from the 2015 champion and first-ranked Florida and a tough Georgia side that is also a top contender.
Nonetheless, co-head coach Megan Marsden believes UCLA’s record doesn’t justify its effort, saying the Bruins will do everything they can to hand the Red Rocks their first loss of the season. She, like the rest of the team, also respects the Bruin program for what they accomplished for so many years in the Pac-12 before Utah’s arrival.
“UCLA is certainly a rival for us within the Pac-12,” Marsden said. “We band with them when it comes with national championship stuff, but when we’re in Pac-12 competition they’re our biggest rival. I know that our girls put them in high regard, so we need to be at our best.”
Marsden is also looking forward to seeing how her team reacts to their first big test away from the Huntsman Center this season — with their only away competition so far being four hours south against SUU.
“I would like to see how this young team will handle this first ‘big’ road meet,” Marsden said. “We’ve only been to Southern Utah so far, and not even out of our state yet. We need to handle it well, and if we can’t that’s something the team needs to develop quickly.”
The Bruins’ home turf at the Pauley Pavilion has always been famous for hostile crowds during gymnastics meets, creating a challenge for a young Utah team used to being praised in Salt Lake City.
Another task many Utah gymnasts will experience for the first time is a short turn-around time between two meets. With Utah hosting Arizona at its first Monday night home meet in a decade, the team only had three days to prepare at home before packing it up for Los Angeles.
Fellow co-head coach Tom Farden expressed his concern for the quick turnaround, but also found positives with the short amount of time after the teams’ first complete meet against the Wildcats.
“It was important for us to compete our first solid meet,” said Farden. “I don’t want to put too much emphasis on our opponent, but UCLA is a great team, and they are off to a fast start. We’re going to go out there, do our gymnastics, and see where it takes us.”
If Utah can get this major test out of the way against its rival, it will generate more confidence for this young team heading into the toughest part of the season when they face opponents in Stanford, Michigan and Georgia in the coming weeks.
The Red Rocks’ first rotation against the Bruins kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. MST and will broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
@chad_marquez