Gymnastics not sharp in final duel of season

Quakers suffer disappointing loss at Bridgeport After falling to a very talented Rutgers squad before spring break, the Penn gymnastics team had a week to relax and forget about the Scarlet Knights. Unfortunately, upon their return to action this weekend, the Quakers got a roundtrip ticket to Connecticut to take on Bridgeport's Purple Knights. Despite adding a shade of blue to their opponent, the Quakers were unable to muster any luck, falling 186.9 to 179.55 Saturday afternoon, ending its dual meet season with a very respectable 8-5 record. "We started off really well," Penn coach Tom Kovic said after his squad roared out of the gates, setting the uneven bars on fire behind Shilpa Rao's 9.375. After that opening rotation, the Quakers had to like their chances of stealing the meet, given that the bars have been the squad's Achilles' heel all season. Soon afterward, however, the Quakers' prospects darkened, as two falls on the vault brought the team's demise. Despite the comedy of errors on the vault, senior co-captain Nicole LeBrasseur was able to score 9.2 points in the event and then lead the team with a 9.425 on the beam. It was that apparatus, the beam, that gave Penn the most trouble against Bridgeport. Kovic called his team's performance on the beam "the most disappointing one of the year." The Quakers scored only 43.9 points, significantly less than the 46 they're used to. As it moved into the last rotation, Penn's earlier blunders had put the meet out of reach. No worry for co-captain Monique Burton though. The senior rose to the occasion, as she has so many time before this season in the floor exercises, taking second with a score of 9.55. While Penn did go on to lose to the Purple Knights, the squad can take solace in the fact it lost to a strong foe. Kovic lauded his team's opponents. "They have a great team. They deserved to win," he said. However, Penn can pull some positives from this performance. Burton's performance in the all-around competition, in which she scored 36.3 points, will aid in her campaign to make the field for the NCAA regional competition at Kent State. More importantly though, while this squad won't have anymore dual meets this year, it will have another chance to strut its stuff next week when it heads to the ECAC's consolation postseason invitational in Springfield, Mass. On this score, Kovic concurred. "The beauty of the season is that there's always a next time out," he said.

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