Ready for anything: Alabama gymnastics faces another top-ranked team
It may be a good thing. It may be a bad thing.
Either way, the University of Alabama gymnastics team doesn’t care that it has to face another top-ranked team in back-to-back weeks. It competed against preseason-favorite Oklahoma last week on the road, and now it has No. 1 LSU on Friday.
“It shows how good we are and how we can go up against anyone — first, second, third or last,” junior Kiana Winston said. “It doesn’t matter.”
To open its 2017 season, Alabama traveled to Oklahoma, home of the reigning national champion. The Crimson Tide lost to the Sooners, 197.75 to 196.7, but Dana Duckworth liked what she saw.
The UA head coach took one thing away from the first meet: Alabama is going to be good this season. Now, she’s ready to show off what the team is capable of in in Coleman Coliseum, which came in at second among the 2016 gymnastics home attendance leaders with an average of 12,647 people per meet.
“It’s just so surreal. It’s such a blessing,” junior Nickie Guerrero said. "When you land and hear that home crowd behind you, it’s something you can’t describe."
After what felt like a long fall, Alabama is eager to return home, especially since it gets to host a fellow SEC competitor.
The Tigers’ biggest weapons include sophomores Lexie Priessman and Sarah Finnegan, but they also have huge hits in freshman Kennedi Edney and senior Ashleigh Gnat.
During the last regular season, the Crimson Tide lost to the Tigers, 197.925 to 196.225, in Death Valley. It was late in the season, and at that point, Alabama was No. 3 and LSU was No. 4.
“The hardest part, because you’re competitive, is watching another team celebrate,” Duckworth said. “Because you want that. You know what that tastes like and feels like.”
The two teams also faced off during postseason. The Crimson Tide came in second at the SEC championships, one spot above the Tigers, but the order was reversed at the national championships.
Alabama expects to see LSU more than once this year again.
“We’re not a team that gives up,” Winston said. “We’re a team that’ll fight until the very end.”
atch(Me^
No. 1 LSU at No. 4 Alabama
When: Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Coleman Coliseum
Records: Alabama 0-1, LSU 1-0
TV: SEC Network