Jan. 13, 2012

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland gymnastics team scored season highs on vault and floor as the Terps won their home opener over Pittsburgh, 193.850 - 189.650, Friday night at Comcast Center. The Terps totaled 48.850 on vault which is tied for the 25th-highest score all-time.

"I thought we did extremely well," said head coach Brett Nelligan. "We improved a lot from last week. Sometimes you are going to run into some tight judging, especially early in the season, and I think that was the case tonight. We're going to go out and do our job every weekend and that's all you can do."

Maryland (1-2, 1-1 EAGL) won individual titles in three of the four events. Sophomore Katy Dodds' 9.900 on vault is tied for the fourth-best performance all-time and is 0.025 short of her career high. Sophomore Karen Tang won on bars for the second week in a row, and junior Ally Krikorian won on floor.

"Our back three on vault, Kyra [Phillips], Katy [Dodds] and Ally [Krikorian] kind of set the tone for the meet," said Nelligan. "On bars, Karen Tang again, week in and week out she is really starting to find her grove. Katy and Ally really shined on the floor. It was good to see Kesley [Cofsky] get back in form on floor."

The first rotation saw the Terps start on vault. Maryland took the top-3 spots and Cofsky tied for fourth. Cofsky led off on vault with 9.675. Phillips started the back end of the rotation with a 9.775 and Dodds followed by sticking her landing. Krikorian finished with a 9.850 to take second.

Sophomore Elizabethe Manzi led off the bars and tied a career high with a 9.775 after drilling the landing. Tang, who earned EAGL Specialist of the Week for her performance on bars the week before, closed with a 9.850 for the second straight week.

The Terps jumped on beam for the third rotation and Manzi and junior Briana Melander turned in solid performances. Manzi and Melander both stuck their dismounts to finish with a 9.700 and 9.650, respectively.

On floor, Krikorian took top honors with a 9.800. Dodds finished second and freshman Stephanie Giameo scored a career-high 9.750 to finish tied for third. The Terps finished with a season-high 48.575 on floor.

The Terps will be back in action Friday, Jan. 20, as they play host to Alaska-Anchorage and Bridgeport at 7 p.m. at the Comcast Center.