AUBURN, Ala. – There's nothing better than being at home. The Auburn women's gymnastics team, ranked No. 13 this week, proved that two weeks ago when they posted a 196.700 to beat LSU in front of a sellout crowd in Auburn Arena.
And though the Tigers picked up another win on the road at Missouri last weekend, they're excited to be back home this Friday to welcome No. 6 Georgia to town.
"I think our girls feed off (the crowd)," Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. "To me, it's the most important thing we can have here. A sellout arena, that loud environment, that awesome environment that our fans bring – that's what brought the girls here in the first place. That's why they committed to a place like Auburn. They want to be in front of people. They want to be on TV. They want all of this pressure on them.
"And I think this is a great opportunity for our girls to go out there and compete against somebody like a Georgia who's won 10 national championships, and we've got our fans on our side."
The meet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised live on SEC Network.
EVENT INFORMATION
It will be the "All Auburn, All Orange" meet in Auburn Arena on Friday. Fans are encouraged to wear orange, and the first 800 fans will receive a free t-shirt.
The gymnasts will be passing out signed autograph cards at the exits following the conclusion of the meet.
PARKING INFORMATION
Fans should park in the Campus Safety Lot off Wire Road and Donahue Drive. The location is a quick walk to the main entrance of Auburn Arena.
Free parking is also available in the East Coliseum Lot as well as the Athletics Complex Deck.
AUBURN LINEUP VS. GEORGIA
Last week at Missouri, the Auburn coaching staff experimented with some new routines and some changes to the lineup. That could happen again this week against Georgia as they look to find that perfect lineup by the time postseason rolls around.
The Tigers will begin the meet on vault and leading off will be senior Taylor Krippner, who will be making her season debut on the event. Krippner, who has been a mainstay on bars and beam this season, has plenty of experience on vault with 41 career starts coming in. She earned a career-best 9.9 on vault at home against Alabama last season.
After Krippner, it will be Gracie Day who shared the individual title last week with a 9.875, followed by senior A'Miracal Phillips. Next up is freshman Derrian Gobourne and sophomore Drew Watson, the two all-arounders who are both ranked top five in the region on vault. Sophomore Jada Glenn will once again serve as the anchor.
Then it's on to bars where Auburn ranks second in the region and No. 6 nationally. The Tigers earned the second-highest bars score in program history (49.500) two weeks ago against LSU, and the lineup will be the same as it's been all season.
Sophomore Drew Watson will once again go first and then it will be Krippner, Gobourne and senior Samantha Cerio. Cerio won the individual title on bars last week against Missouri and has scored a 9.900 in back-to-back meets. Next up is fellow senior Abby Milliet, who leads the team with a 9.875 average, and finally it will be Day to close out the event.
The third rotation for Auburn will be beam, and though it's the same six gymnasts as the week before, the coaches plan to shuffle up the order some.
Watson and Gobourne are once expected to lead things off for the Tigers, but then Krippner will move back into the third spot and be followed by Skyler Sheppard, who served as the anchor last week. Next will be Milliet, and then back in the anchor spot is sophomore Meredith Sylvia.
Auburn will finish the meet on floor with junior Emma Slappey in the top spot for the second straight week. Slappey posted a 9.775 against Missouri in her season debut on floor.
The other five on floor are also expected to stay the same with Sheppard, Watson, Gobourne, Milliet and Cerio in that order. Gobourne has won the individual title on floor the last two weeks, and the freshman's average (9.867) currently ranks fifth in the region and 36th nationally. As a team, the Tigers have jumped up an entire point (48.583) on floor since the first meet of the season.
SCOUTING GEORGIA
Following a 196.875 against Alabama last Friday, the Georgia gymnastics team posted a 197.000 to beat Iowa State on Monday. They are only the fifth school in the country to record a 197.000 or higher this season.
Coming into the season, the GymDogs returned five gymnasts from the year before, including four All-Americans – Rachel Dickson, Marissa Oakley, Sydney Snead and Sabrina Vega.
Snead, now a senior, earned first-team All-American honors on vault and second-team honors on beam and in the all-around at the NCAA Semifinals last year. This season, she leads the SEC on vault with an average score of 9.925 and is eighth in the conference in all-around (39.225).
UP NEXT
Auburn will hit the road again next week when it travels to Lexington to face No. 17 Kentucky on Friday, Feb. 1. The meet is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.
A great opportunity: No. 13 Auburn to face No. 6 Georgia at home
