FAYETTEVILLE -- The No. 2 Florida gymnastics team was not in peak form on Friday, but No. 8 Arkansas could not take advantage in its home gym.
The defending NCAA co-champion Gators took control during the middle of the meet and cruised to a 197.2 to 195.375 victory over the Razorbacks before a crowd of 4,654 at Barnhill Arena.
No. 2 Florida 197.2, No. 8 Arkansas 195.375
FLORIDA 197.2
UNEVEN BARS (49.025) Claire Boyce 9.85, Ericha Fassbender 9.85, Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto 9.825, Bridgette Caquatto 9.85, Kytra Hunter 9.675, Alex McMurtry 9.925.
VAULT (49.45) Caquatto 9.925, Fassbender 9.875, Rachel Spicer 9.875, Kiersten Wang 9.825, Hunter 9.3, McMurtry 9.95
FLOOR EXERCISE (49.325) Boyce 9.85, Wang 9.85, Fassbender 9.8, Spicer 9.825, Hunter 9.925, Caquatto 9.875
BALANCE BEAM (49.225) Fassbender 9.85, Spicer 9.875, Grace McLaughlin 9.775, Boyce 9.875, McMurtry 9.775, Hunter 9.85
ARKANSAS (195.375)
VAULT (49.425) Samantha Nelson 9.675, Stephani Canizaro 9.8, Heather Elswick 9.9, Leah MacMoyle 9.875, Paige Zaziski 9.925, Amanda Wellick 9.9.25
UNEVEN BARS (48.875) Keara Glover 9.775, Cailee Ellsworth 9.6, Erin Freier 9.725, Canizaro 9.75, Wellick 9.8, Zaziski 9.85
BALANCE BEAM (47.95) Freier 9.8, Wellick 9.225, Zaziski 9.875, Nelson 9.175, Glover 8.975, Sydnie Dillard 9.875
FLOOR EXERCISE (49.125 )Canizaro 9.825, Dillard 9.825, Zaziski 9.7, Nelson 9.725, Elswick 9.875, Wellick 9.875
ALL-AROUND Fassbender (Fla.) 39.375, Zaziski (Ark.) 39.35, Wellick (Ark.) 38.8, Hunter (Fla.) 38.75
"We were a little flat tonight," Arkansas Coach Mark Cook said of the Razorbacks, who scored less than 196.625 for the first time the season opener.
Florida (4-1 overall, 3-1 SEC) improved to 32-3 overall against Arkansas (2-5, 1-3 SEC). The Razorbacks' last victory in the series came in an upset of the No. 1 Gators here four years ago.
The Gators, scoring 197-plus for the third time in five meets, won all four events, including a huge margin of 1.3 on the balance beam, while competing without all-around ace Bridget Sloan.
"I'm really proud of the team because we've had so many obstacles up to this point and so many injuries," Florida Coach Rhonda Faehn said.
The Razorbacks held a slim lead after one rotation, but could not overcome three falls on the balance beam by Amanda Wellick, Samantha Nelson and Keara Glover, the same thing that happened to No. 6 Alabama while losing a 1.3 point lead to Arkansas at Barnhill on Jan. 16. Arkansas scored a season-low 47.95 on the beam, and Florida took advantage, scoring 49.325 on the floor exercise to seize an insurmountable lead of 1.65 points heading into the last rotation.
"Balance beam, we just had a meltdown," Cook said in reference to the falls in the Nos. 2, 4 and 5 slots for the Razorbacks. "It was like a domino effect, what happened to Alabama. So we've got to get tougher mentally. We've got to tighten up our minds a little bit, get a little tougher mentally and we'll be fine."
Florida freshman Ericha Fassbender won her first collegiate all-around with a 39.375, edging Arkansas freshman Paige Zaziski (39.35). Florida senior Kytra Hunter, the nation's No. 3 all-arounder, had a bad landing on her bars dismount and fell down on the vault to come in fourth in the all-around (38.75) behind Wellick (38.8).
The Razorbacks led 49.425 to 49.025 after the first rotation, bolstered by 9.925s from Wellick and Zaziski.
The Gators jumped back on top by 0.35 after two rotations after Alex McMurtry's powerful 9.95 vault in the anchor spot won the event and helped propel Florida to a 49.45. Arkansas continued its scoring struggles on the uneven bars with a 48.875, with only Stephani Canizaro (9.8) and Zaziski (9.85) scoring 9.8 or better. Zaziski shared the event title with the Florida trio of Claire Boyce, Ericha Fassbender and Bridgette Caquatto.
Arkansas bounced back from its beam falls with a 49.125 on the floor, led by 9.875s from Heather Elswick and Wellick, but could not gain ground on the Gators.
The Razorbacks return to action on Friday with a home tri-meet against Illinois and Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m.
Sports on 02/07/2015