ASU gymnastics scored a big upset over No. 13 Washington at home on Friday night, posting a season high score en route to a 195.750- 195.450 victory.
The victory gives the Sun Devils (3-3) their second straight Pac-10 win, the first win streak of the season and plenty of confidence heading into next week’s matchup at No. 2 Stanford.
“Right now, I couldn’t be more pleased as a coach to see the character of this team develop,” ASU coach John Spini said. “They’re inspiring me, and I think they’re inspiring each other.”
ASU’s camaraderie was evident on Friday night, as the energy was high between all the Gym Devils, something that they believe contributed to another season-high score.
“I think we all just kind of came together before we even came out here tonight, and we decided that we were going to take the next step up,” junior Amanda Davies said. “That’s what it’s about, is being involved with your team. Nothing else really matters.”
ASU’s focus was key in the upset, as the Sun Devils remained composed on all their routines and never concerned themselves with how talented the visiting Huskies (3-3) were.
“I just can’t even describe how I feel right now,” said senior Brittany Schuett, who had a season high 9.900 score on vault to get the Sun Devils going early. “This is our season high, and we’ve just been building with every week. Even with the injuries, we pushed passed it and rose to the challenge. I am so impressed with our girls and I think it can only lead to good things from here.”
ASU’s repetitions and pressure sets in practice have been paying off come crunch time, leading to less falls and more precise routines that allowed the Sun Devils to post such a high score on Friday night.
“We are so excited to finally move out of the 194 [score range] because we’re that talented, and we’ve always known we could do it, even with the setbacks we’ve had with injuries,” Davies said. “We can compete with the best of them.”
The upset should boost respect for the Gym Devils from critics around the country that have already written off ASU because of shaky early-season performances.
“That’s always been our goal to make it back to nationals, and so hopefully we’re on the right path to getting some people to turn their heads and start to notice us,” Schuett said.
Though the Sun Devils are pleased with the outcome of Friday’s meet, they realize they must continue to make strides in the practice room in order to keep boosting their scores and to qualify for nationals.
“We’re just trying to stay very solid, not do anything flashy, not try to beat somebody but actually do our routine the best we can,” Spini said. “There’s a lot of things that are happening really good right now; we just have to stay focused, keep our eye on the ball and really enjoy what we’re doing.”
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
