The Sacramento State gymnastics team hosts the San Jose State Spartans in The Nest on Friday, looking to rebound from their first loss in five weeks.

In their last meet on Friday, Feb. 12, the Hornets struggled on their way to finishing third behind the Brigham Young University Cougars and the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.

Sac State’s opening rotation on beam led to a couple of falls, putting the team behind early and the deficit left by those errors proved to be insurmountable.

However, head coach Randy Solorio is confident that the team will be able to move past its recent trouble and compete with aggression and excitement.

“The thing about this team is they can put it behind them,” Solorio said. “They don’t dwell on anything that’s happened. They just figure, ‘that’s done, move on, work a little harder.”’

While getting past previous mistakes is crucial, Solorio also believes one of the most important lessons the team needs to learn going forward is to remember to have a good time.

“What we’re stressing in the gym as well as in a meet is that this sport is about enjoying what you do and having fun,” Solorio said. “It’s so hard and demanding. If you don’t enjoy doing it, you start stressing about it.”

Sac State’s opponent for this Friday is a team that they have beaten twice already this season, but it is also a San Jose State team that is much better than the 191.800 score that they put forth in their first meet against Sac State.

In fact, San Jose State’s season average score of 193.471 is less than a point lower than Sac State’s season average of 194.440, a mark that Coach Solorio believes the team is capable of topping by a significant margin.

“This team can score 196.000,” Solorio said. “We did it once last year without [our] top two athletes. This team has the potential to really blow that out of the water. They are that good, that fun, that deep, that exciting.”

The meet starts at 7 p.m. at The Nest on Friday.