Cougars come up short against Broncos

PROVO – In a close scoring meet against Boise State (3-2), BYU (1-3) came up just one point short, 95.750 to 194.750, Saturday afternoon in the Smith Fieldhouse.

“We had girls who stepped up and I was really please with their performance, but we have to keep fighting to get better,” said BYU head coach Brad Cattermole. “We’ve had to fight through a few injuries that we just have no control over. We had a girl get hurt in warm ups and that always lets a little bit of the air out, especially in gymnastics when it’s a close meet. A lot of girls who might not have had opportunities to compete are getting chances to step up which is great.”

In warm-ups, senior Holland Matheson, who was set to compete for the first time since the first meet, injured herself.

BYU started the afternoon on the vault where Natalie Eyre-Pickard posted a score of 9.875. Teammate Raquel Willman averaged a high score of 9.825 to aid the team in its overall score of 48.750. Boise State started on the bars, gaining a total of 48.875.

Moving to the uneven bars, BYU’s Eyre-Pickard and Willman had another strong showing with Eyre-Pickard tallying another score of 9.875 and Willman achieving a 9.850. These top scores helped to put BYU at a running score of 97.450. Boise State had success on the vault, upping its overall score to 98.325.

Gaining the highest score for the Cougars, Krysten Koval earned a 9.900 for an excellent performance on the beam. Eyre-Pickard came close behind her with a score of 9.850. The scores stayed close with BYU’s total at 145.925 and Boise State at 146.500.

“Krysten has been a rock on beam. She thinks she owns the thing,” said Cattermole. “Today’s performance was like the last couple she’s had. She’s been rock solid.”

The Cougars proceeded to the floor for the last event of the meet. Koval recorded the highest score once again with 9.800 for the floor event. Willman and Sarah Yandow both gained scores of 9.775 to help BYU outscore Boise on the floor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Cougars to surpass the Broncos.

The Cougars will host Denver University at 7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10 at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Sara Picard is a senior at Brigham Young University studying public relations. She works for BYU Athletic Communications as a Sports Information Director.