The Sacramento State gymnastics team recovered from early trouble with strong floor routines to beat the Brown University Bears by a score of 194.000-192.500 at the Nest on Friday night.

The Hornets struggled with falls on the uneven bars and balance beam, issues that they have faced all season, but were able to come from behind thanks to a typically solid floor rotation.

“Falling twice on bars is not good, to be straightforward,” said Sac State head coach Randy Solorio. “In this sport, judging is judgmental… so you just got to take what you get, but we can’t give them falls.”

Sac State led after the first rotation, in which the Hornets scored 48.825 on vault to Brown’s 48.625 on bars. The second rotation took Sac State to its nemesis, the uneven bars.

Falls on bars cost the Hornets as they fell behind the Bears after the second rotation, 96.975-96.950, and the troubles continued on beam.

The Hornets suffered additional stumbles on the balance beam, which placed them further in the hole after Brown put together clean floor routines and led 145.675-145.075 heading into the final rotation.

The Hornets put together a string of quality floor exercises to steal the meet from the Bears with a score of 48.925 in the final rotation, compared to a 46.825 from Brown on beam.

“The team really did step up,” Solorio said. “We had some new people in because of injury, so Carly Pratt, first time in the lineup this year, did her job just hitting a routine and helping build from there. It was a good way to finish, to at least hit 194.000 with four falls in a meet.”

Friday’s meet was the Hornets’ final regular season home meet. It was also senior night, with six gymnasts finishing up their Sac State gymnastics careers this season. Senior Cassie Benning, who won the floor event individually, said it was a nice way to finish.

“It was really exciting,” Benning said. “I thought it would be a little bit more emotional, but it was just so much fun. My team really made it special for me. We had little bit of a rough bar set but, ending on floor, we know that’s our strongest event and we just did what we needed to do.”

The Hornets were led once again by senior Kalliah McCartney, who completed her final regular season home meet with a score of 39.050 and another first place all-around title.

“Winning the last meet in all-around is just kind of like icing on top of the cake,” McCartney said. “Obviously, it was not the best all four events tonight, but I did what I need to do. Just to have a win is just excellent, awesome, and wonderful.”

The Hornets will compete in their final regular season meet on March 11 against UC Davis and the University of California, looking to finish strong before returning to the Nest to host the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Saturday, March 19.