Gymnastics Welcomes EMU for Senior Day Sunday

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State gymnastics team closes out the home portion of the 2022 schedule Sunday, when it welcomes Eastern Michigan for Senior Day at 1 p.m. inside Worthen Arena.

After the conclusion of the meet, the Cardinals will honor its five-member senior class; Sandra Elsadek, Marissa Nychyk, Stefanie Schweikert, Sari Thaler and Lauren Volpe.

BSU will be battling the Eagles for the second time this season, as the teams first squared off in a Jan. 28 quad-meet in Ypsilanti. The meeting resulted in a tie, with both teams tallying a final score of 195.025.

The Cardinals enter the meet with a 2-2 record at home after suffering a setback to Bowling Green last Sunday.

HOW TO FOLLOW SUNDAY: ESPN+ Live Video | Live Results

"LIVE" FROM THE WLBC ZOOM ROOM:

In case you missed it, senior Marissa Nychyk, junior Grace Evans, junior Megan Teter and freshman Cai Afalla were live in the WLBC Zoom Room with Steve Lindell on Thursday morning … Below is the complete interview:

IN THE RTN TEAM RANKINGS:

Ball State enters the weekend ranked 48th nationally with an average score of 194.494 over its first eight meets … Last time out, a short-handed Cardinals squad scored 191.725 in a home dual versus Bowling Green.
Eastern Michigan enters the weekend ranked 49th nationally with an average score of 194.396 … The Eagles turned in a season-best score of 195.200 last time out in a quad-meet at George Washington.

IN THE RTN EVENT RANKINGS:

The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 38th on beam (48.669), 43rd on floor (48.713), 46th on bars (48.469), and 50th on vault (48.644).
Ball State's season-high vault score of 49.150 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the 30th-best team vault score in the nation so far this season.
Ball State's program-record beam score of 49.150 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the 34th-best team beam score in the nation so far this season.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS:

Ball State's season-best team score of 195.850 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the second-best in program history … The Cardinals also scored a 195.850 in a home dual versus North Carolina on March 8, 2020.
Ball State's team score of 195.675 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) is now the seventh-best score in program history.
Those two performances are not the only time BSU has flirted with a program record under ninth-year head coach Joanna Saleem … In fact, the top 13 team scores in program history have come under Saleem's guidance, including a program record 195.975 set at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 6, 2021.

HITTING THE TEAM EVENT MARK:

The Cardinals tallied a program record 49.150 beam score in the Jan. 30 tri-meet, counting routines of 9.900 from freshman Grace Sumner, 9.850 from senior Lauren Volpe, 9.825 from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg, 9.800 from junior Alivia Ostendorf and a 9.775 from senior Sandra Elsadek.
Ball State also turned in the second-best vault score in program history on Jan. 30, registering an identical mark of 49.150 … Sophomore Suki Pfister led the way with a 9.925, followed by 9.825s from senior Stefanie Schweikert and Elsadek, a 9.800 from sophomore Victoria Henry, and 9.775s from Ostendorf and Ruthberg.
BSU also tied the then-second-best vault score in program history with a 49.100 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16).
Of the four event records, the Cardinals have broken three of them under Saleem's guidance … In addition to last Sunday's beam record, Ball State topped the floor mark with a 49.500 versus Western Michigan on March 5, 2017, and shattered the vault record three times, most recently with a 49.175 versus Western Michigan on Feb. 3, 2019.

VAULTING NEAR PERFECTION

Sophomore Suki Pfister tied the fifth-best vault performance in program history with her score of 9.925 in the Jan. 30 tri-meet sweep … It's the highest-scoring vault in the MAC this season.
Pfister also laned a 9.900 vault in the Jan. 23 dual meet versus Kent State and in the Feb. 4 meet at No. 20 Utah State, making her the only MAC student-athlete with multiple marks of 9.900-or-better on vault so far this season.

VOLPE SOLID ON BEAM

Senior Lauren Volpe enters the weekend ranked ninth in the MAC with an average beam score of 9.788 … She landed a career-best routine of 9.875 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) and has hit for 9.825-or-higher in four of her eight routines this season.
Volpe's career-best beam score of 9.875 ties as the 12th-best score in program history.

RUTHBERG MAKING MOVES ALL-AROUND:

Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg has competed in the all-around in a team-leading six meets so far this season … Her best outing came at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) when she turned in a career-best performance of 39.275.
The effort, which ties as the fourth-best in program history, included career-high scores of 9.825 on vault and 9.850 on beam … She also scored 9.800s on bars and floor, hitting on every event
Ruthberg leads the squad with 10 routines of 9.800-or-higher, including four of her last eight event scores.

WALDO GOES ALL-AROUND:

Junior Taylor Waldo turned in the meet of her career so far in last Sunday's dual versus Bowling Green, competing in the all-around for the first time as a Cardinals, scoring a 38.050.
With the Cardinals short-handed on the day, she competed on vault (9.575) and bars (8.875) for the first time in her collegiate career … She also tied her career-best mark with a 9.850 on beam and finished with a 9.750 on floor.

SUMNER JUST SHY OF PROGRAM BEAM MARK:

Grace Sumner has had a highly impressive freshman campaign, and Jan. 30's home tri-meet was no different as she turned in a 9.900 to lead Ball State's record-setting performance on beam … The effort ties as both the second-best mark in program history and the third-best score on beam in the MAC so far this season.
So far in her debut season, Sumner has landed nine routines of 9.700-or-better with five coming on beam and four on bars.
She registered a career-best bars score of 9.775 in last Sunday's meet versus Bowling Green.

COOPER ALSO MAKING A MARK

Freshman Erica Cooper made her competition debut in the Jan. 28 quad-meet at Eastern Michigan, leading the team with a 9.800 on floor … She turned in an even better performance in the Jan. 30 home tri-meet, scoring 9.850 which ties as BSU's best floor score so far this season.

HENRY SCORING STRONG:

Sophomore Victoria Henry is second on the squad with seven scores of 9.800-or-higher so far this season.
She has landed five of those mark on vault, including a season-best 9.875 versus Kent State (Jan. 23) which ties as the 13th-best vault score in program history.
Henry scored a career-best 9.825 on floor and a season-best 9.800 on beam at Western Michigan (Jan. 16).

IN THE EVENT WIN COLUMN:

The Cardinals have claimed 12 event victories so far this season.
Sophomore Suki Pfister leads the way with five, tying for top honors on vault at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) before winning it outright in each of the next four meets
Junior Megan Teter is second on the squad with three event wins, two coming on bars (Jan. 23 & Jan. 30) and one on floor (Feb. 13).
Senior Sandra Elsadek earned a pair of event wins last Sunday versus Bowling Green, tying for first on both bars and floor.
Junior Taylor Waldo also has a pair of event wins, claiming the beam title versus Kent State (Jan. 23) and against Bowling Green (Feb. 13).
Senior Lauren Volpe (beam on Jan. 16), freshman Grace Sumner (beam on Jan. 30), and sophomore Victoria Henry (vault on Jan. 16) also have tallied one event victory apiece.

SCORING 9.800-OR-BETTER:

Ball State has chalked up 48 routines of 9.800-or-better so far this season, led by 10 from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg and seven by sophomore Victoria Henry.
Of those 48 routines, 17 have come on vault … BSU has also hit the mark 11 times on beam, 11 times on floor, and nine times on bars so far this season.
Overall, the Cardinals hit routines of 9.800-or-better 97 times last season … BSU's floor team led the way at 32 marks at the threshold, followed by bars (28), vault (21) and beam (16) … In addition, Ball State's gymnasts hit 10 routines of 9.900-or-better last season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cai Afalla

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Marissa Nychyk

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Sari Thaler

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo