Alabama
Florida
No. 6 Alabama Gymnastics Falls to No. 1 Florida, 197.425-197.225
3/5/2021 10:58:00 PM | Gymnastics
Crimson Tide seniors Lexi Graber and Alzona Klopfer closed their last regular-season contest with career-best scores on the floor exercise while Luisa Blanco put up another huge all-around score
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 6-ranked Alabama gymnastics team fell 197.425-197.225 to No. 1 Florida Friday night at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Crimson Tide closed the regular season at 6-2, while Florida finished at 8-0.
Luisa Blanco once again led the way for Alabama, posting her fourth-consecutive score of 39.500+, winning the all-around with a 39.700. She also won the vault, uneven bars and balance beam on the night while Lexi Graber closed out her last regular-season meet by winning the floor exercise.
Alabama opened up with a 49.300 on the vault led by Blanco's 9.925, which matched her career-best on the event. The Tide came back with a 49.325 on the uneven bars paced by Blanco's 9.950, which also tied her career-best mark. Alabama posted a 49.325 on the balance beam led once again by Blanco (9.925), while Graber (9.975) tied her career-best to push Alabama to a 49.275 on the floor exercise.
Head Coach Dana Duckworth Said
"The first half of the meet, we were in a position to win a championship. In the second half of the meet, we had some uncharacteristic mistakes and didn't do some things that we were very capable of doing, so there was some disappointment in the overall outcome. Kudos to Luisa Blanco for being really amazing again tonight and really figuring out who she is in competition. I'm very proud of our seniors, Lexi and Alonza, for doing an excellent job on Senior Night. We will use this as fuel, and it will allow us to get better. There is a lot more in the tank and we have a lot more that we can do."
Inside the Score Sheet
- Friday was Senior Night for the Crimson Tide and Lexi Graber and Alonza Klopfer posted career-best marks on the floor exercise in the last regular-season routines of their careers with Graber tying her best of 9.975 and Klopfer bettering her mark to 9.900
- Alabama opened the meet with a 49.300 on the vault, its second-highest score of the season
- Luisa Blanco matched her career-best score on vault with a 9.925, her third 9.9-or-better score in a row
- Blanco (9.950) and Cam Machado (9.875) both tied their career-best scores on the uneven bars
- Shania Adams posted a career-best 9.925 on the uneven bars, her fifth score of 9.875-or-better on the apparatus this season
- Florida came into the meet having already claimed a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title, while Alabama at 6-1, would have been co-champions with a win over the Gators
Up Next
- With the regular-season in the books, the Crimson Tide heads into the postseason, with the first two legs coming in-state
- The Southeastern Conference Championships, originally slated to be held in New Orleans, have been moved to the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala., and will be held March 20 with sessions starting at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT
- Both sessions of the SEC Championships will air on the SEC Network.
- The NCAA Regional Championships will be held April 1-3 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa
- For more postseason details, check out RollTide.com
For all the latest information on Alabama gymnastics, follow @BamaGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. All the latest information on Alabama Athletics can be found on @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
