No. 12 Auburn will host No. 13 Missouri on Friday for Senior Night inside Neville Arena. Six Auburn seniors will be honored, including two fifth-year seniors, Aria Brusch and Cassie Stevens. Auburn’s seniors will be honored for their past accolades on Friday night, but that is not where their focus is.
“It’s a good celebration,” Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. “We have a lot of experienced people, a lot of seniors that we get to celebrate, but we also have to have a really good meet.”
The home Tigers are looking for a strong showing at home. They have been on the road a good bit this season and will be again the rest of the year after Friday. The best score of the season for Auburn came in its last home meet, but overall its scores have been inconsistent.
“The score is the most important thing we can do this Friday,” Graba said.
Auburn hopes to find more consistency and to be at its best heading into the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regionals. A strong meet on Friday could put the Tigers on that path. If Auburn wants to finish with a higher score, it must start stronger than it did in its previous meet.
The first two rotations against LSU were not Auburn’s best. Auburn scored a 49.100 on bars with no gymnast reaching 9.9 or above. On vault, freshman Julianne Huff scored a 9.925, and Cassie Stevens scored a 9.900, but the other gymnasts struggled leaving Auburn with a score of 49.250.
“It’s a combination of things,” Graba said when asked about the poor starts. “Some of it is technical, some of it is we’re missing consistently things on bars that we aren’t missing in practice.”
A stronger first two rotations could dramatically improve the overall team score if the final two rotations continue as a strength.
“We need to start faster, especially on bars,” Stevens said. “That’s kind of been a struggle point of ours this year.”
Auburn’s best rotation all season has been the floor. Beam, however, was its best score in its previous meet with a score of 49.450.
“The confidence in our beam team is growing and growing week after week, especially after performances like that,” Stevens said. “Going into the postseason you never know what can happen, it’s very likely that you’ll end on beam.”
If Auburn does not perform up to its capabilities, Missouri could steal the thunder of Senior night. The visiting Tigers are one of the most consistent teams in gymnastics with an average score of 197.064 - a total just below Auburn’s average. Missouri put up a score of 197.475 in its previous meet.
Missouri will come to Neville Arena with plenty of confidence, but Auburn hopes to have a big night. It will be an emotional and special night inside Neville Arena. The meet will begin at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.
