For a team with a history of success, there is no obstacle
harder to overcome than defeat. Two losses in a row only make the
task twice as hard.
Coming off two performances they would like to forget, the
10th-ranked Bruins will make the long road trip to Louisiana on
Friday to take on LSU. It will be their final tune-up before
heading into next weekend’s Pac-10 Championships in
Corvallis, Ore.
“We try to approach every meet like it’s our first
one. We’re starting fresh. We’ve worked hard the last
two weeks to regroup, and if anything, (the losses) fire us up
because we want to go out there and redeem ourselves,” senior
Kate Richardson said.
The team is coming off its longest break of the season, and for
a group plagued by injuries and illness, it was a welcomed one.
Tasha Schwikert, defending NCAA all-around champion, will make
her first appearance of the season. The team also hopes to see
freshman Melissa Chan, who has been recovering from a calf injury,
back in uniform.
However, freshman Janelle Dantzscher, who sat out during the
last meet due to illness, will not make the trip but plans to stay
behind while doctors continue treating her.
“It’ll be really exciting to have Tasha back in the
lineup. We have missed her all season, and having her back in will
help our lineup and create some good competition within the
lineup,” Richardson said.
“It was a really good break for us. The rest really did us
well and we made the most of it. We trained hard, and every one of
(the gymnasts) is beat up, but we’re not down. They’re
excited to go, and we are taking this meet as the start of our
championship season,” UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field
said.
The team has struggled lately, making errors that have led to
losses in its last two meets. A rocky beam rotation marked by four
falls led to the Bruins’ worst round of the season in its
home finale against Stanford and San Jose.
It was the same story with the team’s prior meet against
Arizona, as three gymnasts fell on the bars during the first
rotation.
“We can’t wait to get out there. At our last home
meet, three of the four events we had were great. It was just one
event kicked us. On the balance beam, once one fall happened it
just led to a downward spiral. We just got to pull it all
together,” Kondos Field said.