Sacramento State hosted Texas Women’s University Friday in the last home gymnastics meet of the season. The home meet also served as senior night for Hornet gymnasts that will be graduating in the spring.

The green and gold started their night on vault, where three Hornets each scored 9.675. They were led by Eryn Stubblefield, Traci Takeda, and Nicole Meiller, all of whom tied for forth best in scoring. After the first rotation, Sac State’s score was 48.025 as they found themselves behind early to the Pioneers, who scored 48.125 on the uneven bars.

Sac State then moved on to the uneven bars, where two falls weighed costly on the overall score. Meiller again came through for the Hornets with her routine that earned a 9.750, as Sac State ended the event with a score of 47.925. After two rotations the Green and Gold had 95.950 points, however, the Pioneers kept the pressure on with an overall vault score of 48.550.

Amy Winczura for Texas led the way for the Pioneers as she scored 9.750, tied for first with Meiller. After two rotations for the Pioneers, their overall score was 96.675.

The Hornets went into the balance beam looking to make up some ground. An untimely fall by Lissa Zamolo left the door wide open for the Pioneers, as the Hornets scored 48.575 collectively, with beam specialist Jasmine Lipka leading the charge with a score of 9.800.

With three rotations complete, Sac State found itself in a hole to the Pioneers by 0.35 points, 144.025-144.375.

The Hornets got a big scoring lift from Lipka, as she earned a 9.800 from the judges on her floor routine. That score was good enough for a win in the event as well as helping Sac State to over come their deficit.

The Hornets earned a 48.575 for the floor, which gave them an overall score 192.600. The Pioneers were not able to sustain their momentum, as the beam seemed to be their down fall. Texas Women’s scored 47.175 for the event and earning them a total of 191.550 points. Sac State came from behind to win by 1.05 points and secure a much-needed win going into their last meet of season in Logan, Utah, versus Utah State.

“At first I was really nervous,” Takeda said. “But then I thought about it and I realized I just need to have some fun.”

Heading into their next meet with Utah State, Stubblefield feels that the team needs to more unity in order to succeed.

“I think we just all need to come together as a team and make it a team performance,” Stubblefield said. “Right now we have great individuals shining each meet, I think if we could just come together as a team to make it happen, that’s all we need to do.”

Hughes feels that it is quality not quantity that will help the team overcome their errors in the next meet.

“At this time of year,” Hughes said, “We need to focus on the little things and the necessary corrections to get it done.”

As for the graduating seniors, Coach Hughes feels that each has contributed to a legacy of hard work.

“After training them for four years, that they bring a quality of work ethic,” Hughes said. “They work well together and hopefully it has been an inspiration to the rest of the team.”

Sac State wraps up its regular season on March 27 against Utah State in Logan, Utah at 6 p.m.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]