Jan. 29, 2010
DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois gymnastics team looks to see continuing improvement and rebound from an "off" day on balance beam when the Huskies play host to Mid-American Conference opponent Ball State Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center.
Tickets for the meet, which will be held in the Arena (main bowl) are $5 for adults and $3 for youth and senior citizens. Fans who bring a ticket stub from either of Northern Illinois' Saturday basketball games will receive $1 admission to the gymnastics meet
Northern Illinois (2-1, 1-0 MAC) is coming off its first loss of the season despite earning their best team score of 2010 as they fell to Bowling Green on the road, 192.625-190.900. The balance beam was the team's undoing in that meet, but NIU Head Coach Mark Sontag said the team learned important lessons from the experience which they will bring into Sunday's competition.
"I think we're coming back wiser as far as keeping our focus the whole meet," Sontag said. "Last week, we let the process of the meet get to us and we talked about that. This week, I believe we'll come in hungry and ready to go. We are competing well. We slipped up in one event last week but there is nothing broken. I feel confident with the people we have and I am optimistic about our options going forward."
Last week, those options included the return of 2009 MAC Gymnast of the Year Holly Reichard (Palatine, Ill./Fremd HS) to the line-up in three events for the first time this season. Reichard saw action on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise last week and led all Huskies on both bars and beam. She is slated to compete in the same three events Sunday. The rest of the line-up will also look similar to the one NIU fielded a week ago.
Sontag is confident that with the work his team is putting in on a daily basis, results will continue to follow.
"I think we are a better team than what our scores have shown [so far]," Sontag said. "As we continue to get healthier, we have the potential to continue to raise our team scores. This is a good line-up. They will get the job done. When they go out there, we get 100 percent effort. I have seen improvement every single day. We are working hard, we're focused on what we're trying to do and we put the effort into training to get the results we want. "
The Huskies entered the season with one of the deepest teams in Sontag's 11-year tenure at the school, but that depth has been tested so far this season. Sontag is happy with the way his 2010 team has passed that test.
"We have people deep in the line-up that we are counting on and we've seen improvement," Sontag said. "Ashley Guerra has looked good and I look for her to keep improving. Jessie Watanabe has looked good. I feel confident we've done everything in training and as far as our work ethic in the gym to be successful with what we're doing."
Guerra (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg HS) has recorded the Huskies' highest score on the uneven parallel bars this season with a 9.725, while Watanabe (Palatine, Ill./Palatine HS) has the team's best beam score on the year at 9.775. Sontag also looks for all-arounders Natalie Blum (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township HS) and Tanya Rachan (Lowell, Ind./Hanover Central HS) to continue to improve. The two have each raised their all-around scores in each of NIU's three meets this season.
Following Sunday's home meet, the third of four home meets in 2010 for the squad, NIU will be on the road for its next two competitions, including Feb. 7 at Texas Woman's University and Feb. 19 at Kent State.
-- NIU -
Keep up with all the latest news on Northern Illinois Athletics, read "Huskie Happenings" daily on www.NIUHuskies.com.
