FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 8 Arkansas nipped at gritty Auburn's heels for three events Friday night, and when the No. 9 Tigers slipped on the beam the Razorbacks pounced.
Arkansas closed the meet with a 49.35 on the floor exercise, led by Samantha Nelson's career-high 9.925, to post a come-from-behind 196.6 to 195.975 victory before a crowd of 4,619 at Barnhill Arena.
Arkansas (3-3, 2-1 SEC) snapped a six-meet losing streak to Auburn (2-3, 1-3) and improved to 6-1 at Barnhill against the Tigers.
"It's been a while since we beat Auburn and they were a Super Six team last year at NCAA nationals," Arkansas Coach Mark Cook said. "We have to go through Auburn to get to that top session of the SEC Championships in Little Rock. We need to get there, and beating Auburn is part of that journey."
Arkansas junior Amanda Wellick won the all-around with a 39.5 and tied for the vault and balance beam titles.
"It was our house, and that was the theme of the night, going in and protecting our house and doing everything how we practice," Wellick said.
The Razorbacks trailed by 0.3 points in a meet that had been tightly contested throughout heading into the final rotation.
Sydnie Dillard led off the floor exercise with a 9.85 for the Razorbacks, who scored no lower than 9.825 on the event. Nelson hit her event-winning 9.925 in the fourth spot and Wellick scored 9.9 in the anchor position to tie for second on the event with Auburn's Caitlin Atkinson.
"I just had a lot of fun with it and tried to show the judges that I'm enjoying what I'm doing," Nelson said.
"That was the best of her career," Cook said. "She has a lot of spunk and personality and it comes out in her routine."
Taylor Krippner came off the beam in the No. 2 spot for Auburn and scored 9.35 after leadoff performer Kullen Hlawek had a shaky 9.65. It got worse for the Tigers, who had to count both of those scores after Emma Engler in the third spot suffered a knee injury while falling on her dismount and scored 9.075.
The Tigers also suffered an injury to freshman A'Miracal Phillips, who under-rotated on her vault landing and hurt her leg. That fall did not prove costly to the team score with Lexus Demers posting a 9.775, MJ Rott hitting a 9.9 and Caitlin Atkinson scoring 9.875 after Phillips' fall.
Auburn, the nation's No. 7 team on the bars, got off to a strong start on that event, counting nothing lower than 9.8 on its way to a 49.25 and advancing to the second rotation with a lead of 0.175 after Arkansas posted 49.075 on the vault.
Emma Engler and Abby Milliet both stuck landings for the Tigers to score 9.875s and tie for the top score on the bars.
Wellick had a 9.9 on the first rotation to tie for the vault title with Rott.
Arkansas could not tighten the gap after after the second rotation, its 49.025 on the bars tying Auburn's vault score. The Razorbacks were in strong shape to gain ground on the rotation before sophomore Paige Zaziski, the team's highest scorer on the bars, over-rotated a handstand on the high bar, then had to come off it for a moment.
The Tigers gained 0.125 on the third rotation with Atkinson giving a commanding performance on the floor exercise to score 9.9. Arkansas was solid on beam with only a few wobbles among its six gymnasts, led by 9.85s from Wellick and Nelson en route to a 49.15 team score. Auburn took a lead of 147.55 to 147.25 into the final event.
Sports on 01/30/2016