Sadie Miner-Van Tassell celebrates a routine in the Smith Fieldhouse. (BYU Photo)

BYU gymnastics finishes regular season at home with resounding win over Arizona

BYU finished its regular season at home with a win over Arizona 196.825-196.300 Saturday, leaving the Cougars undefeated at home.

BYU started the meet with a small stumble on the vault, but that was to be expected with vault being the Cougars’ weakest event, ranked 25th nationally versus 18th in every other event.

Senior star Sadie Miner-Van Tassell didn’t get the memo however, stepping up on her last vault in the Smith Fieldhouse to push the Cougars’ score up to 49.100 in the event.

Arizona started on bars and tied BYU’s score of 49.100 with some great landings.

Arizona then moved on to its weakest event, the vault, while BYU switched onto the bars for the second rotation.

BYU’s Anyssa Alvarado is ranked 13th in the country on the bars and tied her season-high score of 9.925 for the sixth time.

The Cougars took a .225 lead to finish the first half.

Arizona started the second half on the floor and knocked the lights out with their routines. The Wildcats’ high score came from Caroline Herry with a score of 9.950 and they didn’t have an individual score under 9.800 on the floor.

Miner-Van Tassell stepped up with a clean performance on bars with a score of 9.900.

Elease Rollins, ranked No. 9 in the nation on beam, helped close the gap for BYU with a score of 9.875.

Still, BYU’s lead dropped to just .100 over Arizona.

In the final rotation, both teams had a few stumbles, but BYU pulled away in the end with phenomenal routines by Miner-Van Tassell and Brittney Vitkauskas on the floor.

With its final meet of the regular season, BYU earned its second-highest score of the season with a team score of 196.825, to improve the Cougars’ national qualifying score (NQS) headed into the postseason.

On the vault, first place was earned by Miner-Van Tassell (9.925), second place by Rollins (9.850), and third place was a three-way tie between Arizona’s Herry, Emily Mueller, and Malia Hargrove (9.825).

Alvarado took first on the uneven bars (9.925) and Cougar Abby Beeston and Wildcats Alysen Fears and Malia Hargrove all tied for second (9.875).

On the beam, first place was a tie between Miner-Van Tassell and Herry (9.900), and in a three-way tie for third was Rollins and Arizona’s Hargrove and Sirena Linton (9.875).

Herry took first in the floor routines (9.950), with Cougars Brittney Vitkauskas and Miner-Van Tassell tied for second (9.925).

Miner-Van Tassell won the individual All-Around with a score of 39.525, tying her season-high.

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