Sonya Meraz was already caught off guard when the music to accompany her floor exercise stopped only seconds after it began. So when the sophomore gymnast completed her first tumble, returned to the floor and heard that great silence again, she had to make a quick decision.
“It was like half a second, all these thoughts crossed my mind,” Meraz said. “It stopped again. But I’m already running, so I can’t stop again. So I just kept going.”
Rushing to her aid were her fellow UCLA teammates, who led all of Pauley Pavilion to act as emergency musical accompaniment by clapping to a steady beat.
“I have never seen it happen in college, but she killed it and stayed in the zone,” said senior Danusia Francis. “She did a great job to recover.”
The Bruins weren’t able to recover in some of their events, though. In collegiate gymnastics, it’s always the second fall on one apparatus that costs a team, with only the lowest score dropped.
No. 7 UCLA’s second mistakes on both uneven bars and balance beam ruined its chance to beat No. 10 Georgia and No. 16 Stanford. The Bruins came third in the tri-meet with a total of 196.825, while the Cardinal secured the top spot with 197.400.
Beginning the meet on vault, the UCLA gymnasts executed their landings with consistency. Led by redshirt senior Sadiqua Bynum’s new career high of 9.950, the team was tied with Stanford at 49.375 after the first rotation.
The vault score was the highest the Bruins have totaled since the introduction of the new scoring standard this season. Coach Valorie Kondos Field credited the progress to assistant coach Randy Lane.
“Randy just took a step back and started coaching what Randy does best,” Kondos Field said. “Instead of giving so many corrections and coaching technically so much, he would just go up to (junior) Angi (Cipra) and say, ‘You’re a great vaulter. Don’t worry about sticking, just go big.’”
But UCLA wasn’t able to transition its consistency from vault to bars. Freshman Stella Savvidou and sophomore Melissa Metcalf had below-normal scores of 9.575 and 9.625 respectively, contributing to a 49.025 total in the event. When the second rotation ended, the Bruins trailed the Cardinal by 0.225.
Junior Mikaela Gerber began the comeback for UCLA with a career-best 9.925 on beam to energize the crowd, but a fall and a 9.100 from freshman Nicki Shapiro cost the team.
Francis soon sent the building into a frenzy, though, earning her first perfect 10 this year.
“In my opinion, she has scored a few other 10s this season,” Kondos Field said. “When you get a 9.975, the judges could really just go either way.”
The British beam champion celebrated with full emotion as she ran around Pauley Pavilion – even making her way up the bleacher stairs to share the excitement with the fans.
“There’s no feeling like competing in Pauley, and it’s just because the crowd is on your side. They just push you to do your best,” Francis said. “And when I get that 10, I feel like it’s a result of that positive energy. I just wanted to tell them and the band, as well.”
But once again, the Bruins’ return to the peak was short-lived. A second fall from Savvidou gave her a 9.275 score, leaving the chance of winning a long shot for the team. Despite scoring a strong total of 49.475 on floor, UCLA had to accept an overall loss.
“We were really good. I mean, for us to be sitting out five athletes on really key events, and to be able to score this well,” Kondos Field said. “We should be able to compete against anybody in the country when we are healthy. … This meet should be a confidence builder for them.”