ASU beat No. 15 UA in a dual meet for the first time since 2006.
The Sun Devils (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12) women’s gymnastics team posted a season-high score of 195.875.
Senior Beaté Jones won the all-around for the second meet in a row with a 39.200.
The meet showed ASU’s true potential. The Sun Devils saw big contributions by its returners as well as its freshmen.
Vault was the only event in which UA (0-2, 0-2 Pac-12) scored higher than ASU. Jones tied for second in vault with a 9.850 and sophomore Samantha Seaman scored a 9.800.
The Sun Devils looked elegant on the beam and posted a team score of 48.925.
Freshmen Brianna Gades set a career high with a 9.800. Seniors Madison Snowden and Kahoku Palafox tied for second on beam with scores of 9.825.
The beam event was full of high energy. The Sun Devils carried that energy to the floor and received a standing ovation from the Wells Fargo Arena crowd.
Freshmen Natasha Sundby and Morgan Steigerwalt had breakout performances and tied for third in floor with a 9.875.
“This week in practice, it’s been slow because I’ve had some back pain,” Steigerwalt said. “They’ve let me rest all week, then asked me what I can do today and if I thought I could be in it. I wanted to do it for the team.”
Senior Madison Snowden scored a 9.825 and Jones tied her career high with a 9.900.
With only one meet a week, practices remain very important.
“We just kept doing our routines, and kept working at what we need to do,” coach John Spini said. “We tried to keep our confidence and excitement up. Then we talked about being tough. The toughest team, the best team, is going to win.”
The Sun Devils are in heart of the season and feel confident.
“I’m so proud of my team,” Jones said. “They did amazing. They were a lot more confident. Even at practice, we’ve been doing what we’ve done on floor. So honestly, we weren’t really expecting anything other than that. They are capable of that and now they know that. I think tonight really showed that. It was awesome.”
UA senior Deanna Graham injured her ankle during her floor exercise and was unable to finish. Junior Aubree Cristello took second in the all-around with a 38.475.
Reach the reporter at gdemano@asu.edu
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