After suffering a 1-2 record in its quad meet a weekend ago, Wolfpack gymnastics rebounded with a road win over Long Island University on Sunday, Feb. 13.
The Pack (8-3, 2-2 EAGL) finds itself back at .500 in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League after dropping its previous two conference matchups. LIU was no small task for NC State, with the team posting a program-record 195.050 in total score. Unfortunately for the Sharks, a program record wouldn’t be enough to overcome a Wolfpack team that was firing on all cylinders in its 196.725 point performance.
Junior Alexis Ortega was a huge proponent in the Wolfpack victory, tying for team-high performances in each of the three events that she participated in. Her 9.850 result for vaulting tied that of junior Shruthi Anand, her 9.875 in bars tied with sophomore Cartina Jordan and junior Emily Shepard and Ortega’s 9.875 was a joint team-high with graduate student Nicole Webb.
Ortega’s joint team-highs were good enough for first-place finishes in the vault, uneven parallel bars and the balance beam. The only event on the afternoon that NC State didn’t place a claim for first in was the floor exercises, where LIU’s Amanda Loo cleanly took the top spot with her 9.925 point performance.
Getting back in the win column after a hard fought quad meet that could’ve gone better is exactly what the Pack needed as it prepares for the latter half of its schedule. With two more head-to-head matchups before its next opportunity to perform in a multi-program meet, the Pack has plenty of time to continue working out the kinks.
Up next on the docket is a return to Reynolds Coliseum to take on UNC-Chapel Hill, a team that despite the rivalry has not given the Pack too many problems over the years. In the matchup earlier in the year, NC State walked away with a 195.125-194.225 victory over the Tar Heels and will likely hope to repeat that success when the teams face off again on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.
