After posting a season-high at the Western Athletic Conference Championships, the Sacramento State women’s gymnastics team fell to sixth place in its second consecutive NCAA West Regional.

“This was (a result) of pure fatigue,” Sac State coach Kim Hughes said.

Hughes said the Hornets went through a long season and peaked at the WAC Championships.

“When you reach a pinnacle your body kind of drops off,” he said. “You don’t expect it to drop that much.”

Junior co-captain Melissa Genovese was the only gymnast who placed in the top-10 for Sac State, with a 9.825 on the beam.

The score was the fifth worst on the season and the gymnasts knew they hadn’t done their best work.

Utah and Nebraska snagged the top two spots, earning a spot in the NCAA Championships, with scores of 197.325 and 196.675, respectively.

Missouri (194.3) placed third, Cal (193.9) took fourth and Washington (193.3) finished fifth.

“I think we did OK,” Giao said, before the scores were announced.

“We let our guard down in practice and we never got it back,” she said.

Sac State didn’t start strong on the floor, with a team score of 47.850.

Freshman Amanda Bieber (9.125) was up first and stepped out twice, followed by freshman Lissa Zamolo (9.2275), who also stepped out.

Eryn Stubblefield (9.525) and Nicole Giao (9.65) followed without a hitch, but it wasn’t long until another stepped out of the line.

Melissa Genovese (9.625) took one step out, and sophomore Maria Borisova topped the Hornets with a 9.775.

The Hornets walked to the vault in a better mood than one might expect after having four out-of-bounds calls, two of which counted toward its score.

Sac State scored a 48.125, which senior Sara Williams said was average for the team on that event.

After a bye, the Hornets competed on the bars, which drew the most emotion from Borisova, who dragged her feet on the floor, seemed to lose her balance and fell into the wires.

Assistant coach Randy Solorio rushed to her side and embraced her.

She reapplied some chalk and jumped to the high bar to conclude her routine with the dismount.

She knew after the mishap on bars she was out of the running for the all-around hopes she expressed wanting prior to the meet.

Genovese said when her own gymnasts are down, the captain tries to focus on the rest of the team as the coaches console the fallen Hornet.

“Of course we were thinking of her,” she said.

The Hornets scored a 48.350 with junior Alexis Tsurumoto scoring a team-high of 9.775, tying for 13th.

Borisova didn’t have much time to contain her emotions as she had to compete in the final rotation.

Sac State added a few more faults as two gymnasts fell from the beam. The Hornets tallied a team score 47.400 led by Genovese.

Borisova recovered on the beam and ended with a smile as she scored a 9.725.

Genovese topped the three Sac State finishing 13th in the all-around, scoring 38.750. Stubblefield scored 38.350 and Borisova scored a 37.675.

Utah snagged the top three spots in the all-around and was led by Ashley Postell who scored 39.675.

Karyn Gilbert can be reached at [email protected]