Inconsistency can be a haunting thing in sports and it haunted the Nebraska women’s gymnastics team Friday against No. 22 Illinois at the Devaney Sports Center.
After trailing Illinois by a thin margin of 97.675-97.600 after two rotations, the No. 20 Huskers limped the rest of the way in a 195.475-193.400 defeat in their season-opening nonconference match.
Nebraska scored a 48.025 on the balance beam and a meet-low 47.775 on floor after scoring 48.800 in each of the first two events.
“I think today gave us a great opportunity to see where we’re at, and we can’t make those bigger mistakes on balance beam and there’s no reason they should have made those mistakes,” Nebraska coach Heather Brink said.
What didn’t help matters was the lack of a crowd for team energy, a factor that has a heavy influence in college gymnastics. Only parents were allowed to attend, according to Big Ten rules, and it created an atmosphere that Brink and her team have never faced before in a competition.
“Yeah, it was a little weird, to be quite honest,” Brink said. “It’s just nobody really knew completely what to expect coming into this because this is the first time, we’ve ever done a meet in a pandemic.”
However, there were still some bright spots for Nebraska. Kynsee Roby earned the event title on the beam with a 9.875, her best score in three years.
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