EAST LANSING, Mich.  – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team wrapped up the 2023 regular season Saturday night at 10th-ranked Michigan State, dropping a 197.800-195.125 decision to the Spartans in East Lansing.
 
Lansing, Michigan native Alyssa Al-Ashari led the Huskies with stellar routines on uneven parallel bars and balance beam, scoring 9.875 on both events. She tied for second on beam to record the Huskies' highest placing of the night and tied for sixth on bars.
 
"Alyssa hit both of her routines really well and looked really good," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "I'm super proud of her. She's putting a good end of her season together here and that's great for her heading into [MAC] Championships."
 
NIU earned its top team score of the night on floor exercise, posting a 49.100 on the event for the third consecutive meet. Sophomore Emmalise Nock tied for fourth with a 9.900, her fourth straight week scoring a 9.900. All-arounder Isabella Sissi added a 9.825 on floor, while Olivia Lynd and Alana Anderson came in with scores of 9.800.
 
"The [floor group] is doing a great job," Morreale said. "They're competing well and training hard. We worked really hard for that 49.100 that definitely could have been higher, and I feel the same way about vault. We started well on bars and even with a miss, had a pretty good day there."  
 
The Huskies opened the meet on bars with a 48.925. Sissi backed up Al-Ashari's 9.875 with a career high 9.850 while freshman Hannah Drielick, in just her second meet in the line-up, opened the rotation with a career high 9.725.  
 
Sissi earned the Huskies' top score on vault with a 9.775 to tie for fifth and finished her night with a 9.725 on balance beam for an all-around score of 39.175. NIU scored a 48.500 on vault and finished the meet with a 48.700 on beam while not counting a miss on either event.
 
"It was tough to score tonight," Morreale said. "We've been stuck a little bit in the 195 range, but I'm super-excited for next week for us to put it all together at championships.
 
"We want to use this as a springboard for next week," he continued. "It was loud and there was a lot of energy in the building so this was a good tuneup. We handled the environment well; we just made some uncharacteristic mistakes.
 
NIU (8-5) competes in the Mid-American Conference Championship at Kent State next Saturday, March 18. The seven-team meet begins at 1 p.m. (CT) and can be seen on ESPN+.  
 
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