MUNCIE, Ind.  - The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team put together its top all-around meet of the season with team scores of 48.925 or higher on all four events to finish with a season-high 195.950 Sunday at Ball State. The Cardinals came from behind on the final two events to earn the win by just one-tenth, 196.050-195.950.
 
"Honestly we had a really good meet," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "I'm super happy with the girls and what we did. We had some misses but did a great job of coming back. This is who we can be, we weren't perfect but we're still hovering right there.  This was a good step for us. We are good, we're talented, we're deep and we compete well."
 
NIU's 195.950 goes into the record book, tying for the seventh best overall score in school history, while the Huskies' 49.125 is tied for the 10th highest bars score all-time. Bars specialist and anchor Natalie Hamp led the way with her fourth 9.900 score – and fourth first-place finish – in seven meets this year. Three of Hamp's teammates tied or set season high marks on bars with Brookelyn Sears (9.850), Isabella Sissi (9.775) and Samantha Nickle (9.750) all contributing. Sears and Alyssa Al-Ashari tied for second on bars.
 
NIU carried the momentum from bars into vault where the Huskies' season high 48.925 gave them a 98.050-97.500 lead after two rotations. Four NIU gymnasts posted or tied their season best marks on vault as well, led by freshman Kiera O'Shea whose 9.825 tied for second. Emmalise Nock scored a 9.800 and tied for fourth on vault with Emma Brkljacic (9.775) and Ciara Ryan (9.750) also earning season high marks.
 
"Sissi started us off great on bars and Nickle stepped up after the miss, and the the three closers did what we expect," Morealle said. "We had our best vault of the year, and felt really good about that. I challenged them this week in practice to just go for it every time and they did a really good job of responding. Nock and O'Shea were excellent, leading the way and we were super solid across the board."
 
NIU earned matching marks of 48.950 on both floor exercise and balance beam in the final two rotations as the Cardinals outscored the Huskies 98.550-97.900 over the final half of the meet to earn the win.  On floor exercise, Nock tied for second with a 9.875 from the anchor position while sophomore all-arounder Isabella Sissi took fifth with a 9.825.  The 48.950 total on floor was the Huskies' second-best effort floor mark of the season.
 
Al-Ashari punctuated another solid performance by the Huskies' beam team with a 9.875 to tie for third, while Sissi tied her career high with a 9.850 and Sears was just behind at 9.825.
 
"I thought we tumbled better than the scores indicated on floor," Morreale said. "We ran into some tough judging but we fought through it. We had a good day on beam, they did a great job with five sticks. I thought we could have gone higher there as well. In the end we fought; I told the team that after the meet. I'm super proud of the way they respond to adversity and go on to the next routines. They trust each other."
 
Sissi's all-around score of 39.225 gave her the win and a career best. She has now surpassed 39.000 five times in seven meets on the season.
 
"Every week, [Isabella] is consistent with what she does," Morreale said. "Every time she competes she gets cleaner, her presentation is there, her landings have been great.  That's helping her get over that 39 mark consistently. As our lone all-arounder that's what we need from her."
 
With the narrow loss, NIU drops to 2-2 in the MAC and 6-3 overall, while Ball State improves to 11-4 overall, 2-0 in the MAC. The Huskies are in action in the NIU Convocation Center on Friday, February 17 at 6 p.m. versus Eastern Michigan. NIU will celebrate Senior Day and welcome gymnastics alumnae to the meet. Admission to NIU home gymnastics meets is free.
 
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