UCLA at Arizona

Recap

The Big Storyline: Powered by a new career high all-around total from Jordan Chiles, UCLA notched a second-straight score in the 197s in an easy road win at Arizona. A perfect score somehow evaded Chiles as she swept the event titles and all-around, and was only matched by teammate Ana Padurariu—who had a night of her own with career bests on bars (9.900) and beam (9.950).

Implications: The Bruins stay alive in the regular season conference championship race but need to beat Stanford next week and for Oregon State to lose one of its remaining two meets. The Wildcats were previously eliminated from Pac-12 title contention, and their score does not improve their NQS.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 5 UCLA at No. 27 Arizona

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: A pair of conference foes looking the best they’ve looked all season will face off as the Bruins look to win out the rest of the Pac-12 regular season slate. But it must take on a tricky Arizona squad at home first.

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: While the Wildcats will need their best day and likely a bit of help to top UCLA, Malia Hargrove has been in top form lately and could shake up the event standings. The senior recently put up a near-perfect 9.975 on vault and a 39.5-plus all-around performance that could catch a few Bruins off guard. While UCLA may opt to rest a few athletes, vault should be a focal point, as that’s where it lags behind the rest of the top five. With just two 10.0 start values, the Bruins aren’t in a position to take it easy and must keep pushing to find ways to boost totals.