No. 20 Auburn Concludes Regular Season Hosting Pitt

March 8, 2017

Auburn Notes

AUBURN, Ala. -- The No. 20 Auburn gymnastics team closes out the regular season at home, hosting Pittsburgh Friday, March 10, in Auburn Arena. The Tigers and the Panthers face off at 7 p.m. CT and the meet will be streamed on SEC Network+/WatchESPN.

"We need to figure out how to hit four events in the same meet and it would be great to do that Friday night for our seniors," head coach Jeff Graba said. "I think the team is driving toward that goal. Pittsburgh is a good team and we need to have our act together to be successful against them."

EVENT INFORMATION
Fans are encouraged to help end childhood hunger and bring canned goods to Auburn Arena Friday night. All fans that donate three canned food items will receive an Aubie Bobbletail.

Fans are able to purchase tickets at AUBTix.com. General Admission tickets are available for $6, while Reserved are $8. Tickets for groups of 15 or more are $3 apiece. Fans are encouraged to arrive before 6:30 p.m. CT and to take advantage of Auburn's "Print-at-Home" ticket feature to avoid lines at the ticket office.

Shuttles will run continuously for fans from the Athletic Complex and McWhorter Center parking lots from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. CT. Fans are also reminded that parking is also available in the lot in front of Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

For more meet day information, visi http://www.auburntigers.com/facilities/gym-arena.html.

SENIOR CELEBRATION
The Tigers will honor their four seniors prior to Friday night's meet. Competing for their last time in Auburn Arena will be Kullen Hlawek, Kelsey Kopec, MJ Rott, and Lucia Scaglione.

This year's senior class has been a part of many program accomplishments during their time on The Plains. The group were members of the first Auburn team in 22 years to reach the Super Six (2015), helped the Tigers to a team-record score of 197.750 set in 2015, and were a part of AU team that had historical wins in 2016.

Rott will finish her career as Auburn's record holder on vault (9.975), while appearing on the program's top floor scores list. In the last two seasons, Hlawek has become one of the team's most consistent beam and floor scorers, while Kopec has spent her four competing years as the team's bars specialist and adding her skills on vault. Scaglione has stepped up big time in her final season, producing solid scores on floor for AU.

SCOUTING PITTSBURGH
The Pittsburgh gymnastics team has the 49th-best RQS in the nation, coming in at 194.295. The Panthers are 8-15 overall and are coming off a busy weekend. The team hosted a quad meet Friday, March 3, finishing second behind nationally-ranked West Virginia. The team then traveled to Morgantown and finished fourth at WVU's quad meet.

The Pitt floor squad stands 39th nationally at 48.925, while the vaulters are 41st with a 48.730 RQS. Bars ranks 46th at 48.655 and beam has an RQS of 48.355.

Senior Tracey Pearson ranks tied for 42nd on vault nationally with an RQS of 9.845. She also has a solid average on floor - 9.855.

AUBURN/PITT SERIES
Auburn holds an 8-1 record against the Panthers in the all-time series. The Tigers last hosted Pitt in Auburn in 2012 where the squad came away with a 195.150-193.325 victory.

The most recent regular season meeting came in 2013 as Auburn traveled to Pittsburgh for a dual meet. The Tigers were victorious, topping the Panthers, 195.850-194.250. The final meeting in the series came in 2013 where both schools faced off in Gainesville at an NCAA Regional. The Tigers came in third (196.700), while the Panthers finished fifth (194.775).

UP NEXT
The postseason begins March 18 with Auburn traveling to the 2017 SEC Championship. The conference meet will take place in Jacksonville, Fla., in Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will be split into two sessions.

For the latest on Auburn gymnastics, follow @AuburnGym on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuburnGym.