Sacramento State Gymnastics team moved from 41 to 37 in the national rankings after their last meet in San Jose. With the ranking, Sac State moves closer to being eligible for regionals as the top 36 teams qualify.

The Hornets were looking to take this momentum into Davis Friday, as they took on Eastern Michigan University and host UC Davis.

The Davis meet counted not only in the national rankings, but also for the Causeway Cup standings.

At the end of the night, the Aggies increased their lead to 47.51 over Sac State’s 42.50 as both Davis and Eastern Michigan came out on top. This marks the first time since 1998 that the Aggies have swept the Hornets in a season series.

The Hornets were not able to overcome early mishaps in three of four events and were behind all night.

On the uneven bars, Sac State faced an immediate deficit after it had back-to-back falls. Nicole Meiller then stepped up to post a team-best score of 9.775.

Meiller finished in third place as Sac State ended the rotation with a score of 47.750.Sac State then moved to beam where its struggles continued.

Cayla Boyce tried to keep the Hornets in the meet, scoring 9.850, which was good for first place for the event, while tying a career-high.

However, falls again proved to be too much for the Hornets as they finished the event with a score of 48.225.

After two rotations, Sac State found themselves in third place with 95.975, Eastern Michigan was second, 96.475, and Davis first, 97.325.

With the Hornets in need of points as they began their third rotation, they turned to Bethany Barrick to lead the charge. She came out scoring 9.750; good enough for first place tie on the floor routine.

Sac State posted a score of 48.450 to win the event. However, it was not enough to overcome Davis’ lead.

Meiller once again led the Hornets, this time on the vault, where she posted a score of 9.750. For her effort, she earned a third-place finish. Sac State finished the event with a score of 47.875, not enough to take the overall lead.

Sac State finished with 192.300 points, good for third place. Eastern Michigan followed in at second with 192.700 points, as Davis came in at first with 194.250 points.

The Hornets return to action again on March 12 with a home meet against Texas Women’s University at 7 p.m.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]