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BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 3 LSU Gymnastics team (5-1-1) took care of business at home on Friday night, taking down No. 14 Penn State (4-1) in a top-25 victory inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The program welcomed 11,603 fans at their meet as the Tigers extended their home win streak to 17 consecutive wins inside the PMAC. The last time LSU lost at home was on January 16, 2023.
LSU swept all five event titles on the night over Penn State. Chio was the only gymnast to compete in all four events, taking home the all-around with her second straight 39.600 performance plus the vault and beam titles with her 9.975 and 9.925 scores, respectively. Ulrich took home the bars title with her 9.950 and Drayton took home the floor title with her 9.950.
Chio moved her total to 14 this season and 37 in her career, while Ulrich earned only her second event title at LSU and Drayton earned her second this year and fifth total.
The Tigers opened up the meet on vault where sophomore Lexi Zeiss set the tone with a strong 9.875. Junior Konnor McClain kept things rolling with a 9.825 in the second spot before graduate student Courtney Blackson scored a 9.725 in the third spot. Junior Amari Drayton saw a huge 9.925 vault in spot four ahead of a season-high 9.875 from sophomore Kaliya Lincoln in spot six. Sophomore Kailin Chio anchored the event with a near-perfect 9.975 vault.
Tiger fans were able to see freshman Nina Ballou and sophomore Victoria Roberts compete in exhibition vaults that scored a 9.600 and 9.750, respectively. After the first rotation, LSU put up a season high 49.475 to earn the early lead over Penn State’s 48.975.
The Tigers went to bars for rotation two where Zeiss started things off with a 9.775. Graduate senior Alexis Jeffery put up a 9.675 in the second spot in her first bars appearance of the year before junior Madison Ulrich added a season-high 9.950 in the third slot. Chio executed a solid 9.900 in the fourth spot before Blackson and McClain notched back-to-back 9.825’s in the fifth and sixth spots.
Ballou completed her second exhibition routine of the night and scored a 9.850. LSU finished the rotation with a 49.275 and led Penn State, 98.750- 97.750 at the halfway point.
The third rotation saw the Tigers on beam where junior Kylie Coen scored a 9.775 in the leadoff spot. Zeiss delivered a 9.875 to match her career-high in spot two followed by a 9.800 from Drayton in the third spot. Lincoln added a 9.750 and McClain recorded a 9.850 in spot four and five, respectively. Chio finished strong in the anchor spot with a 9.925 to bring LSU’s rotation total to a 49.225
Senior Emily Innes competed in an exhibition routine on beam scoring a 9.900 ahead of a second exhibition from Ulrich, who scored a 9.875.
The Tigers continued to lead Penn State after three rotations, 147.975-146.925
The fourth and final rotation saw LSU on the floor where Innes got things rolling with a 9.875.
Ballou followed in the second spot with a 9.875 ahead of a career-high 9.925 from Coen in the third spot. Drayton tied her career-high in the fourth spot with a 9.950 before Chio scored a 9.800 in spot five. Lincoln anchored the rotation with a 9.925 to bring the Tigers’ floor score to a 49.550. The night concluded with exhibition routines from Zeiss and Ulrich, who scored a 9.825 and 9.850, respectively.
The Tigers will continue their homestand next week with an SEC showdown, hosting Auburn on Friday, February 13 at 7:45 p.m. CT on SEC Network inside the PMAC.
**LSU Press Release
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