Alabama Gymnastics Loses First Road Meet at Kentucky After Struggles on Beam

Alabama's final rotation on beam was emblematic of the whole night in the Crimson Tide's first road meet of the season where things were just a little bit off as No. 8 Kentucky beat No. 3 Alabama 197.300-196.100 on Friday night in Memorial Coliseum.

"Unfortunately, we made some mistakes tonight," Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston said after the meet. "I've been saying all year we are a young team, and you don’t get better until you get thrown into and start figuring out some of these things. I am proud of how they continued to try to fight throughout some challenging circumstances, but ultimately we’ve got to get better at making aggressive decisions to be able to command every performance and hit the way we know how to.”

Two Alabama gymnasts, freshman Kylee Kvamme and fifth-year Shania Adams, fell off the beam with another having a major balance check as the Crimson Tide scored a 4., down almost a point from what the team scored on the apparatus a week ago in the season opener. Junior Gabby Gladieux finished the rotation with a 9.9 to help make sure Alabama crossed the 196 threshold.

After no falls in the season opener, Alabama had three total falls on Friday night.

Vault was the only rotation where Alabama improved its team score from the first meet. Alabama scored a 49.350 highlighted by sticks from Kvamme (9.9) and senior Lilly Hudson (9.925.) For the second consecutive meet, the Crimson Tide vault lineup featured six 10.0-start value vaults, and the agressive approach was rewarded on Friday night as Alabama saw better execution on its vaults.

The Crimson Tide opened the meet on the uneven bars, and it appeared it would be a strong start, but freshman Paityn Walker fell in the anchor spot, causing Alabama to have to count a 9.75 from Jordyn Paradise. Freshman Rylan Fuller was the star of the rotation with a 9.925.

Alabama had some high-flying floor routines in the third rotation, but it started with a 9.75 from Fuller followed by Rachel Rybicki and Karis German both stepping out of bounds on their tumbling passes. The Crimson Tide's floor exercise score dropped from a 49.425 in the season opener to a 49.025 Friday night in Kentucky. For the second consecutive week, Gladieux closed out the floor rotation with a 9.9 or better.

Gladieux finished second in the all-around with a 49.425 just behind a tie for first place with Kentucky's Delaney Rodriguez and Hudson from Alabama both scoring a 49.450.

Overall, there were definitely brights spots and individual improvements from Week 1 to Week 2, but the mistakes in this first road meet will serve as lessons for Johnston and her team to use throughout the rest of the season. Alabama will look to rebound next week at home in Coleman Coliseum against No. 1 Oklahoma.

"We’re going to have to talk about this as a team— discuss what went well, what didn’t go well and how to we keep moving forward," Johnston said. "It’s moments like this that absolutely light a fire under a team like this. And they’re competitive. They’re gonna want to work hard in the gym and be rested and ready for Oklahoma next week.”