The No. 3 LSU Tigers Gymnastics team hit the road and traveled to Athens to take on the No. 19 Georgia Bulldogs.
The Tigers had a great chance to move to 6-2 on the season with a win over the Bulldogs, and they seized their opportunity, taking home and big 197.625-197.075 win on the road.
Jay Clark has repedately hammered into his team that they need to be more consistent on the road, and while they didn't score in the 198's like they have their last two home events, they earned their highest road score of the season en route to the victory.
If you weren't able to watch, don't worry, because I'll give you a recap of Friday nights action:
First Rotation
The LSU Tigers kicked the night off on the uneven bars. Alexis Jeffrey led the meet off for the Tigers, as she usually does in away meets, and scored a solid 9.875 begin the night. Ashley Cowan followed Jeffrey and posted her second highest score of the season, earning a 9.850.
Kiya Johnson went third on bars for the Tigers and she put together a solid routine, scoring a 9.850, her third 9.850 on bars this season. Konnor McClain followed Johnson. So far this season, McClain has been electric, scoring two perfect 10's in her first five meets. On Friday, McClain started her night off with a 9.875 on bars with one more event still to come for the freshman.
Savannah Schoenherr was up fifth for the Tigers. She has been a rock for this team on bars, never scoring below a 9.850 in five meets thus far. On Friday, she continued her hot streak, scoring her third 9.850 of the season.
Per usual, Haleigh Bryant anchored on bars. She's posted a 9.900 or higher on four consecutive bar routines, but she came up a bit short on her landing and scored a 9.850.
The Tigers didn't have any standout routines on bars, but they all scored either a 9.850 and 9.875 for a 49.300 team score. A 49.300 is pretty good, but it's their lowest bar score of the season so far. Just a testament to how good this team is on that event.
Second Rotation
The Tigers moved to vault for their second event of the night. Through five meets, the Tigers rank second in the NCAA in average vault score, averaging a team score of 49.395.
KJ Johnson continues to lead off on vault. Outside of the first meet, she's scored a 9.850+ in ever meet this season, and she continued that streak with a 9.850 on Friday. Aleah Finnegan followed Johnson on vault, scoring a 9.850 despite a shaky landing.
The other star studded freshman, Amari Drayton, went third on vault. She's performed on vault in every meet this season and has only dipped below a 9.800 once. On Friday, she eclipsed the 9.8 mark again, scoring a 9.825. Savannah Schoenherr followed Drayton, posting the same 9.825 score.
10 gymnasts in and the Tigers still hadn't posted a score in the 9.9's, but Kiya Johnson did what Kiya Johnson does, scoring a 9.900 in the five spot. Haleigh Bryant also must've noticed they hadn't hit the 9.9 mark yet, because she followed Johnson's 9.900 with a 9.950 to finish the Tigers night on vault.
The Tigers nearly matched their yearly average of 49.395, posting a team score of 49.375 as they extended their lead at the halfway mark.
Third Rotation
Moving into the third rotation, the Tigers moved to their best event this season, the floor. Not only is it their best event, but their floor average of 49.540 is the highest of any team in the nation.
Konnor McClain was set to perform on the floor, but Jay Johnson said she was dealing with some back issues, so Olivia Dunne replaced her tonight.
Dunne earned the leadoff spot on floor after replacing McClain. She has competed on floor three times this season, scoring a 9.850 or 9.875 each time. However, on Friday, Dunne had a couple of stumbles, posting a score of 9.800.
Amari Drayton, who averages a 9.900 on floor this season, went second for the Tigers. She also had a bit of a stumble on one of her passes, and in turn posted her lowest floor score of the season with a 9.825.
KJ Johnson went third on floor. She wasn't feeling well last week and didn't compete on floor, but in her return, she reminded everyone of how great she is on the event, scoring a 9.900.
Aleah Finnegan is one of the best floor gymnasts in the world. Outside of one event where she fell, she's posted scores of 9.900, 9.925 and 9.975. On Friday, she once against eclipsed the 9.9 mark, scoring a then team-high 9.925.
Haleigh Bryant went fifth for the Tigers on floor. So far this season, she averages the third-highest score of any gymnast on the event, averaging a 9.944 while never dipping below the 9.900 mark. Coming off a perfect 10 on floor last week, Bryant continued to be great, scoring a 9.950.
When you have two of the top-five floor performers in the nation, you're always going to score pretty high. Kiya Johnson has been the Tigers anchor on floor all season, and she's averaging a 9.938 on the event, which ranks fifth in the country. Like Bryant, Johnson continued her floor dominance, posting a 9.925.
The Tigers finished the rotation with four consecutive scores of 9.900+. They earned a team score of 49.525 on floor, which is tied for their third best floor score of the season.
Fourth Rotation
The Tigers carried a .600 lead into the final rotation. They hit the balance beam, which is an event that has given them quite a bit of trouble this season. However, they posted a 49.625 on beam last week, which is the third highest score any team has posted on the event this season.
Sierra Ballard led off on beam. Jay Clark has talked about Ballard being such a calming presence for the team on the event, and since being moved to leadoff, she's scored two 9.900's and a 9.850. She had to catch herself slightly on her first combination, but she still earned herself a 9.825.
Alexis Jeffrey went second on the balance beam for the Tigers. She's had her fair share of struggles on the beam this year, eclipsing the 9.800 mark just once in three events. On Friday, she made a couple of mistakes, including a big step back on her dismount, which earned her a 9.775.
Luckily for LSU, Georgia's first floor routine of the night scored a 9.125, meaning they'd need to nail their next five routines to have a chance in this meet.
Despite not competing on floor because of a back issue, Konnor McClain still performed on beam. In her last two beam events, McClain has scored a perfect 10 and a 9.975. On friday, she continued to be the Tigers hot hand on beam, scoring a 9.925 in the third spot.
Kiya Johnson followed McClain on beam, and she's been steady eddie on the beam, scoring a 9.900 in each of her last three beam routines. She had a bit of a slip up on Friday, but still scored a 9.850 to all but secure the win for LSU.
With Aleah Finnegan and Haleigh Bryant still to go on beam, all the Tigers needed was one of them to stick their routine to put a nail in this one.
Bryant went fifth for LSU, and as always, she absolutely killed her routine, scoring her 13th career perfect 10 and securing the all-around victory. Bryant now has scored a perfect 10 in all four events in her LSU career.
With Finnegan still to go, this meet was all over, but Finnegan wasn't just going to sit down. She went all out on her beam routine, but had a bit of a slip up on one of her landings, scoring a 9.825 to round out the night.
The Tigers finished the final rotation with a 49.425 on beam, tying their second highest score on the event all season. With the 49.425, the Tigers would lock up the victory over Georgia.
Here are your final scores from tonight's action: