Cal Women's Gymnastics stays undefeated with 2nd-best team score in school history
Cal Women's Gymnastics stays undefeated with 2nd-best team score in school history
Golden Bears (9-0-2) stays undefeated in the 2023 season after tying UCLA Bruins on Saturday afternoon
Cal Women's Gymnastics stays undefeated with 2nd-best team score in school history
While yours truly is about to head to Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, the most exciting Cal vs. UCLA contest of the day may have just concluded from Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
When it was all over, No.7 Cal ties No.6 UCLA at 197.975. This score is the highest of the season for both squads.
Golden Bears started this meet in incredible fashion, earning the 6th-best vault score in program history with 49.400.
Mya Lauzon set a new career-high with a 9.950 to lead the way.
Bears followed with the second-best bars score in program history. Oh, the best bars score came in 2021, when Cal matched the bars score in NCAA history, also in a memorable meet against UCLA.
Maddie Williams was near perfect again to earn another 9.975 on bars.
Cal Golden Bears had a decent lead on UCLA Bruins at the half, but we all know about UCLA’s prowess on the floor. While UCLA put up a big 49.650 on their floor rotation, Cal answered with a program-best 49.525 on the beam to maintain a lead!
Two Bears posted 9.925: Mya Lauzon and Nevaeh DeSouza.
Uncharacteristically, the Bears had a couple of hiccups (Perea landed on her hands and knees on a tumble) to start their final rotation on the floor. This meant that the best-case scenario was for Cal to only count the subpar 9.675 (DeSouza’s score after an out-of-bound deduction) and there were zero margins for errors the rest of the way.
Maddie Williams and Andi Li both put up solid scores, before Mya Lauzon and eMjae Frazier put up near-perfect routines to earn 9.975 each.
Cal superstar freshman eMjae Frazier actually could have won the meet with a 10, but it was somewhat fitting that Cal tied UCLA in the end. This meet was a family affair with the Cal freshman eMjae competing against her older sister redshirt senior Margzetta for the first time. The two sisters chatted with Pac-12 Network afterward. eMjae also matched Cal’s all-time All-Around record of 39.700, recently achieved by Mya Lauzon two meets ago and another current Bear in Andi Li in a previous season.
Cal fans can also check out the Pac-12 Network highlights below.
The 197.975 team score nearly matched the all-time program-best 198.025 set in the 2021 home win over UCLA. It should be comforting to know that the Bears achieved this despite counting a 9.6 score.
The mission for the Golden Bears for the rest of this season is to maintain and improve upon Saturday’s meet, especially on the road.
Okay, time for me to see if Cal Men’s Basketball can top this by upsetting No.4 UCLA in their house.
GO BEARS!
What a clutch performance at the end! Except for the two hiccups on floor, the Bears did amazing this meet. Solid vault, high bars and beam rotations. Looking forward to seeing them in person against Utah next week. Go Bears!
Mya and eMjae put in two of the best and clutch performances in Haas this school year. UCLA has all the hype, and the Olympian, but Cal was every bit their equal. And a lot of the team's stars are underclassmen.