Jan. 31, 2010

Complete Results | Watch Highlights

Los Angeles, Calif. - The UCLA Gymnastics team recorded season-high marks on three events and came within .05 of its season-high team total in a 196.55-193.475 victory over Arizona State on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins had nine scores of 9.9 or better and earned season-highs of 49.475 on floor and 49.35 on vault and bars.

Bruin senior Anna Li won the all-around with a 39.45 and won the uneven bars (9.925) and floor exercise (career-high 9.95). Junior Brittani McCullough placed first on vault with a season-high 9.925, and sophomore Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs took first place on balance beam with a season-high 9.9.

UCLA scored a season-high 49.35 on vault, thanks in part to McCullough's 9.925 on a stuck Yurchenko layout full vault. Tauny Frattone scored 9.9. Li and Vanessa Zamarripa each had 9.85s, Hopfner-Hibbs contributed a 9.825, and Mizuki Sato led off with a 9.775. Zamarripa competed a difficult Yurchenko half-on front layout half vault for the first time, and scored 9.85 after taking a small hop forward while trying to hold onto the stuck landing.

On uneven bars, the Bruins used three scores of 9.9 to total another season-high score of 49.35. Li led all competitors with a 9.925, and Lichelle Wong and Zamarripa each contributed 9.9s - a career-best for Wong and a season-best for Zamarripa. McCullough added a season-high 9.85 with her new routine that included a toe-on Tkatchev, and Aisha Gerber led off with a 9.775.

UCLA's lost a bit of its one-and-a-half point lead in the third rotation, as the Bruins had to count a fall on balance beam. The bottom half of the order came through in the clutch, though, with Zamarripa scoring 9.85, Hopfner-Hibbs scoring a season-high 9.9, and Li closing it out with 9.725 for a team total of 48.375.

Up by just over a point going into the final rotation, UCLA finished strong on floor exercise with a season-high 49.475. Frattone led off with a 9.825, followed by a season-high 9.875 from Sato. Wong scored a career-best 9.9, and Li earned a career-high 9.95. McCullough had an out-of-bounds deduction on her full-twisting double back mount that dropped her score to 9.75, but Hopfner-Hibbs ended the meet with a season-high tying 9.925.

The Bruins improve their record to 5-1 on the year, while Arizona State drops to 1-5. UCLA will next compete at Arizona on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 pm MT.