Jan. 29, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Feb. 1 - at Seattle Pacific, 7 p.m.

LAST WEEK
Jan. 25 - at Alaska Anchorage (1st, 191.275)
Jan. 27 - at Alaska Anchorage (1st, 190.050)

NOTES
TO RECAP: UC Davis picked up two dual wins on a weekend trip to Alaska Anchorage, scoring a 191.275 in Friday's televised meet then adding a 190.050 in Sunday's dual... The Aggies had 97.175 after two rotations on Friday, scoring a season-best 48.725 on vault and a 48.450 on bars... The bars squad followed that up with a 48.550 in Sunday's win...

Sophomore Lida Gehlen earned Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week honors for the two meets... She scored a career-high 9.850 to win uneven bars on the first night, then defended the title with a 9.825 on Sunday... Sophomore Kendall McCann also was a back-to-back winner, posting beam scores of 9.700 and 9.750 in the two meets... Her 9.750 on Sunday came shortly after suffering a tough fall on floor in the previous rotation... "That's huge," said head coach John Lavallee. "It speaks to the level of determination that this team has."... Somewhat obscured by her beam performances was that McCann also scored a career-best 9.525 on bars on Friday, then surpassed it again with a 9.700 in the Sunday victory.

Sophomore Michelle Bobonski also enjoyed a solid weekend, scoring 9.700 on bars on Friday then going 9.500 on vault and 9.750 on bars on Sunday... Freshman Stacey Nicolini won Friday's all-around with a 38.100 despite a miss on floor exercise... She scored 9.850 on vault, 9.600 on bars and 9.700 on beam to help secure her first 38-point milestone... Nicolini's 9.850 on vault and Gehlen's 9.850 on bars are the highest scores by any Aggie in any event this season thus far... Senior Michelle Kulovitz was second in Friday's all-around with a 37.925, boosted by a second-place 9.775 on vault.

UP NEXT: UC Davis heads north to take on MPSF archrival Seattle Pacific in a Friday evening dual... The Aggies won the season's first matchup, outscoring the Falcons by a 188.625-183.875 margin in the Jan. 18 home quadrangular... The meet should also be the first for reigning MPSF Gymnast of the Year Andi Dolinsky, who as yet has been sidelined by injury throughout the season.

SPU (1-4) improved to a 187.300 in Friday's dual loss to Southern Utah... Seniors Ashley Domres and Christie Chinaka were the top Falcon finshers in a meet otherwise dominated by the Thunderbirds... Domres placed third in the all-around at 37.775 while Chinaka was fourth on bars at 9.775.

HEAD COACH JOHN LAVALLEE
"After Friday, I laid it out to the athletes that they're on the edge of some great things. I put the ball in the court and said, `Sit down and figure out what you want to do.' A coach is only a facilitator. We can give them a plan and help them execute it, but the bottom line is that I haven't done a back handspring for anybody. They're the ones who have to pull the trigger and get the job done. For them to do that on Sunday, which all freshmen and sophomores pulling out the win on beam -- that's a huge boost of confidence for me."

"I've had every bit of confidence in this group that I had on September 25, when he had our first practice. It's a very talented group. I've always felt really good about where we're at. We're doing a lot of the right things and are going in the right direction. I've always known that. But this weekend, the team got to see it and got to feel it. They got a taste of success."

"This weekend, we need to maintain the level of intensity that we've been having. On Friday night, with our `A' team, we had two good events. We now need to have four good events. We're into Week 4 of the season. At Week 6, we're in the RQS environment. We're at that time of the season when we need to rock `n' roll."