Women's Gymnastics | February 25

DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University got strong performances from seniors Morgan Hooper (Lincoln, Neb./St. Pius X HS), Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) and Gabby Welch (Greenbrier, Tenn./Aaron Academy) on balance beam, floor exercise and vault, respectively, on Senior Night, but left points on the board in several events in a 195.100-194.050 dual meet loss to Ball State Friday night in the NIU Convocation Center.
 
"The senior meet is so bittersweet and sometimes, it slips away from you," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "We were ready to send these seniors out with a big meet, a big score, but it just didn't go our way tonight. Overall, we left a lot of stuff out there – whether it was landings, short handstands, misses. We're still going to celebrate the seniors – they have meant so much to our program, it's just tough that we didn't get to send them out at home the way they deserved."  
 
Welch, a super senior, anchored the Huskies' vault line-up with a 9.825 to finish second on vault and tie her season high. NIU's team vault score of 48.775 was its third highest of the season as freshman Isabella Sissi (Blaine, Minn./Mounds View HS) tied her career and season best mark with a 9.775 to finish tied for third.
 
Unfortunately, NIU (9-7, 2-3 MAC) was unable to carry the momentum of a strong performance on vault into uneven parallel bars. Even with a pair of early falls, juniors Brookelyn Sears (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville HS) and Natalie Hamp (Ionia, Mich./Ionia HS) finished the rotation strong with scores of 9.775 and 9.800, respectively as Hamp won the event with Sears taking second.
 
A similar story played out on balance beam before freshman Ellery Werner (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander HS), Hooper and Alyssa Al-Ashari (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge HS) stepped up to go 9.800, 9.850 and 9.800, respectively, with Hooper tying for first place in the meet. Hooper also won the all-around title with a score of 38.850.
 
NIU posted a team score of 48.825 on floor exercise to close out the meet.  Kofmehl completed her final home meet with a 9.875 on her top event to win floor and give NIU its highest event score of the night, and the highest individual score of the meet on any event.  Sissi added a 9.825 to tie her career and season high to tie for third place on floor.
 
"We started really well on vault, had a great vault run," Morreale said. "The first two routines on bars were uncharacteristic for us, but the next four up did a great job. If we hit bars, we're in the meet. Beam did a good job, floor was solid, but it's hard to come back. Tonight was a bump in the road, we have three road meets left where we can create what we want this season to be."
 
The Huskies return to action on Friday, March 4 at the University of Illinois Quad Meet versus Illinois, Boise State and Central Michigan in Champaign.  The meet begins at 7 p.m. in Huff Hall.  
 
-- NIU --