North Carolina at Pittsburgh

Recap

The Big Storyline: The real winner of this meet was the beam that claimed many victims (except for maybe Copperwheat). This pride meet did not have the same magic that it did last season thanks to a lack of stuck landings and some less than ideal routines on both sides.

Implications: With NQS season upon us, North Carolina was able to score high enough to replace an away 194 and jump above Towson, but it’s still the lowest counting score going into Week 8. Opening with an NQS above 196 is promising with multiple meets left, though. For Pittsburgh this meet was a missed opportunity to drop a worse score for NQS, which is less than ideal with the Panthers currently on the outside looking in to the regionals picture. There’s still plenty of time to make it up, though.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 29 North Carolina at No. 38 Pittsburgh

Why You Should Make Time to Tune in: Pittsburgh always goes all out for themed home meets, and this Pride meet expects to be no different. Pittsburgh set a program record the last time the Panthers hosted a Pride meet and will look to put up that level of performance.

Need More Proof? North Carolina put up its first away 196-plus at New Hampshire last weekend and will be looking to put up another high away score here with the first NQS rankings looming. Watch out for Lali Dekanoidze who has scored a 9.975 three times this season, as well as Kaya Forbes, who had a rough meet last week and will be looking to bounce back on vault and floor. Pittsburgh is looking to get its second 196 of the season. Keep an eye on Natalia Pawlak who has started to get into a groove on bars with a career high 9.950 last week.