Gymnastics Tops NIU in Road #MACtion

DEKALB, Ill. - - The Ball State gymnastics team followed up a record-setting performance last week with one of its best road meets of the season, earning a 195.100 to 194.050 victory at Northern Illinois Friday evening.

"Our athletes did well tonight," head coach Joanna Saleem said. "It was exciting to watch them go out, compete, and battle in every routine. We had some solid floor routines, several of them did better than last week, which was awesome to see. Overall, we stayed calm, composed and together until the end, which is very important."

The Cardinals entered the meet ranked 34th nationally with a team National Qualifying Score of 195.220. That score will increase, however, with today's performance which was BSU's second-best road score of the season.

The NQS is based on a team's six best regular season meet scores, with three of them coming from road competitions. Tonight's effort will drop BSU's 194.750 at Kentucky and give the Cardinals three road scored above 195.000.

Overall, Ball State was powered to victory by six scores of 9.800-or-higher. The biggest of those came from sophomore Suki Pfister who won the vault competition with a 9.850. It was her sixth win on the apparatus this season.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Rotation 1 - Bars (48.625)

Junior Megan Teter led the way for the Cardinals on bars, tying for second in the meet with a score of 9.775.
Sophomore Victoria Henry was second on the squad with a 9.750, while junior Grace Evans and sophomore Hannah Ruthberg each scored 9.725s

Rotation 2 - Vault (48.700)

The Cardinals were led on vault by Suki Pfister's winning score of 9.850, her seventh score of at least 9.850 this season.
Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg added a 9.775, while junior Alivia Ostendorf rounded out BSU's top routines with a 9.750.

Rotation 3 - Floor (48.975)

Ball State turned in another solid effort on floor, with its third-best team score of the season at 48.975.
That mark counted five scores of 9.750-or-higher, led by freshman Erica Cooper's 9.850 routine.
Junior Megan Teter added a 9.825, while sophomore Hannah Ruthberg rounded out BSU's top three with a 9.800.

Rotation 4 - Beam (48.800)

The Cardinals closed the meet with back-to-back 9.850 beam routines from senior Lauren Volpe and junior Taylor Waldo
Waldo's 9.850 tied her career-best which she has achieved four times this season.
Junior Alivia Ostendorf added a 9.775 which ties as her second-best beam routine of the season

All-Around

Senior Sandra Elsadek led BSU in the all-around with a score of 38.450, including a high routine of 9.750 on floor.
Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg finished right behind with an all-around score of 38.325, which included scores of 9.800 on floor and 9.775 on vault.

MORE FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA SALEEM:
We did our job tonight. We had a couple mistakes here and there, but the fact we stayed together and unified as a team was big for us. They didn't get distracted by those miscues and were able to rally around each other for a solid night.

We had a couple falls tonight, but the rest of the team stayed consistent and strong. They performed well and that's being a team. You don't have to be perfect; you just must do your solid gymnastics and you can walk away with the success we are asking them to measure things by.

UP NEXT:
The Ball State gymnastics team will have a few extra days in the practice gym over the next week, as it does not return to action until a Sunday, March 6 dual at West Virginia.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Megan Teter

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo