It’s Mary Emma here again at the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse for the final time this season for yet another exciting matchup!
This is the second of three meetings between these teams in 2020. Last time out, Pitt came out on top with a season high score. While on paper West Virginia is the better team, this meet could go either way.
After a slow start to the season, Pitt has shown improvement every week. Last week the Panthers recorded season high scores on vault, beam and floor, and Michaela Burton continues to be a star. While she was rested on floor last week, expect her to be back on all three of her events against West Virginia. Her classmate Alecia Petrikis was EAGL specialist of the week last week, so watch for her on vault and floor.
West Virginia has been solid this season, but a lot of counted scores in the 9.6 to 9.7 range, especially on beam, have kept the totals down. Floor has been the Mountaineers’ best event this year, so watch for them there.
Rotation 1
Pitt: vault, WVU: bars
Brechwald (Pitt): y full with just a tiny bounce in place – 9.725
Abarca (WVU): huge gienger, great bail HS, hutting HS well, stuck double back – 9.725 – scoring is tight
Miller (Pitt): lineup change; y full big y full with a small bounce back – 9.7
Combs (WVU): good maloney to pak, tiny hop on dismount – 9.8
Liszewski (Pitt): y full with a small bounce back – 9.6 – scoring is REALLY tight
Ka. Yancey (WVU): goof jaeger to bail, tiny hop on dismount – 9.75
Ward (Pitt): big y full with a bounce back – 9.675
Ki. Yancey (WVU): good maloney to pal, step back on DLO – 9.8
Petrikis (Pitt): big y full with a bounce in place – 9.775
Cluchey (WVU): good jaeger, stuck DLO – 9.8
Herbine (Pitt): y half – short and has to take a large step back – 9.55
Marler (WVU): good piked jaeger to bail, hop on DLO – 9.7
After 1: Pitt: 48.475, WVU: 48.875
Scoring is TIGHT, especially on vault. Solid rotations for both teams though.
Rotation 2
Pitt: bars, WVU: vault
Ki. Yancey (WVU): big y full with a small bounce back – 9.7
Dugan (Pitt): good gienger great bail, small bounce back on DLO – 9.6
Merwin (WVU): sticks y half – 9.75 🙄
Brechwald (Pitt): good jaeger, hand slips on bail and comes off the bar, good toe shoot, hop on DLO – 8.925
Waldron (WVU): tiny hop on y full – 9.675 🙄
Ward (Pitt): good shaposh to bail HS, stuck double back – 9.825
Cluchey (WVU): good y full with a small hop back – 9.625
Weiss (Pitt): good tkatchev good bail HS (scraped feet on ground though I think), lunge forward on DLO – 9.25
Pierson (WVU): HUGE. STUCK y1.5 (whatcha gonna do now judges?) – 9.9 – okay, that’s better
Floyd (Pitt): good maloney, little close on pak, step on DLO – 9.775
Kraus (WVU): y half with a small bounce forward – 9.65
Burton (Pitt): beautiful maloney to pak, STUCK DLO – 9.9!
After 2: Pitt: 96.875, WVU: 97.550
Strong vault rotation for WVU, though the scores don’t reflect that. Pitt had to count that low 9.25, but was otherwise a great rotation.
Rotation 3
Pitt: beam, WVU: floor
Herbine (Pitt): good full turn, wobble on BHS LOSO but saves it this time, good leaps, good punch front, stuck gainer pike – 9.6
Linnen (WVU): beautiful rudi to LOSO, beutiful leaps, she’s one of the most underrated dancers in NCAA, great front double full to finish – 9.75
Robatin (Pitt): good full turn, good front kickover to BHS, good leaps series, good front toss to scale, hop forward on gainer full – 9.775
Combs (WVU): Janet Jackson music, good double pike to open, great 1.5 to front lay, huge double back to close – 9.85
Brechwald (Pitt): great front aerial to BHS, good split jump to sheep jump, solid kickover front, stuck gainer pike – 9.775
Pierson (WVU): beautiful double pike to open, good front lay to front full, beautiful leap series, and a great double back to close – 9.825
Ceccarini (Pitt): slight wobble on BHS LOSO but covers, wobble on leap series, great kickover front, stuck gainer pike – 9.75
Cluchey (WVU): great double pike to open, good split jump to wolf jump, good 1.5 to front lay, good double back to close – 9.825
Miller (Pitt): good split jump to BHS, good BHS LOSO series, slight check on full turn, good front aerial, stuck dismount – 9.675
Fontaine (WVU): LOVE this routine, STAR WARS, good rudi to open, good double back, good leap series, good 1.5 to front lay to close – 9.75
Burton (Pitt): good front aerial to open, beautiful BHS LOSO series, good full turn, beautiful leap series, slight hop on gainer full – 9.85
Abarca (WVU): Floor debut! great front double full to open, good leaps, great rudi to LOSO to close – 9.7
Beckwith (Pitt) exh: good full turn, good BHS LOSO series, good switch 1/2, good leap series, step on dismount
Pitt: 145.700, WVU: 146.550
Solid rotation for both teams. Beam scoring seems a bit tight (but nothing like vault was)
Rotation 4
Pitt: floor, WVU: beam
Linnen (WVU): good front aerial, I think she missed the connection and redoes it connected to a BHS, falls on leaps, good side aerial to beat jump, step back on dismount – 8.925
Herbine (Pitt): good front lay to front full, good wolf full, good leaps, huge double back to close – 9.775
Kaufman (WVU): good kickover front to beat jump, good BHS LOSO series, good leap series, good full turn, stuck gainer full – 9.65
Ceccarini (Pitt): good front full to front half to split jump to front tuck (phew, that was a long one), good double back – 9.75
Pierson (WVU): good front tuck to BHS – slightly slow on connection, good split jump to back tuck, good wolf jump, slight shuffle back on dismount – 9.65
Miller (Pitt): good double back to open, great leap series, good front lay to front full, good double pike to close – 9.8
Hornung (WVU): good wolf turn, good front aerial to one armed BHS, great split leap to beat jump, stuck 1.5 dismount – 9.85
Robatin (Pitt): good double back to open – slight chest down, great leap series, great front lay to front full, good wolf full – 9.55
Fontaine (WVU): good side aerial to split jump, slight check on full turn but covers well, wobble on BHS LOSO, good leaps, slight hop on dismount – 9.5
Petrikis (Pitt): huge double pike, great front lat to front full, beautiful leap series, huge double back to close. Great routine! – 9.85
Abarca (WVU): good full turn, solid side aerial good side somi, wobble on BHS LOSO series, beautiful leap series, hop on dismount – 9.575
Burton (Pitt): beautiful double back to open, great front lay to front full, beautiful leap series, slightly short on double pike and shuffles forward – 9.7
Final: Pitt: 194.575, WVU: 194.775
Shaky beam rotation from WVU, which made the meet a lot closer than it was looking like it was going to be. Probably not a road score they are going to want to count for NQS. Pitt closed out well on floor, but with tight scoring and mistakes on bars, this is also probably not a score they are going to want to keep in NQS.
Live blog by Mary Emma Burtonn
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