February 4, 2012 – In a close scoring meet against Boise State (3-2), BYU (1-3) came up just one point short with the final score at 195.750 to 194.750 Saturday afternoon in the Smith Fieldhouse.

“We had girls who stepped up today and I was really please with their performance, but we have to keep fighting to get better,” said BYU head coach Brad Cattermole. “We’ve had to fight through a few injuries that we just have no control over. We had a girl get hurt in warm ups and that always lets a little bit of the air out, especially in gymnastics when it’s a close meet. A lot of girls who might not have had opportunities to compete are getting chances to step up which is great.”

In warm-ups, senior Holland Matheson was injured. Matheson was set to compete for the first time since the first meet.

BYU started the afternoon on the vault where Natalie Eyre-Pickard shone with her score of 9.875. Teammate Raquel Willman averaged a high score of 9.825 to aid the team in their overall score of 48.750. Boise State started on the bars, gaining a total of 48.875.

Moving to the uneven bars, BYU’s Eyre-Pickard and Willman had another strong showing with Eyre-Pickard tallying another score of 9.875 and Willman achieving a 9.850. These top scores helped to put BYU at a running score of 97.450. Boise State had success on the vault, upping their overall to 98.325.

Gaining the highest score for the Cougars, Krysten Koval earned a 9.900 for an excellent performance on the beam. Eyre-Pickard came close behind her with a score of 9.850. The scores stayed close with BYU’s total at 145.925 and Boise State at 146.500.

“Krysten has been a rock on beam, she thinks she owns the thing,” said Cattermole. “Today’s performance was like the last couple she’s had. She’s been rock solid.”

The Cougars proceeded to the floor for the last event of the meet. Koval recorded the highest score once again with 9.800 for the floor event. Willman and Sarah Yandow both gained scores of 9.775 to help BYU outscore Boise on the floor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Cougars to surpass the Broncos and BYU walked away with another loss.

The Cougars will stay at home, competing once again in the Smith Fieldhouse Friday, February 10th at 7 p.m. in a meet against Denver University.

Feb. 1, 2012 – Eager to return to Provo after several weeks on the road, the BYU women’s gymnastics team (1-2) will host No. 16 Boise State (2-2), Saturday February 4^th at 12:00 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

“The first home meet is always exciting,” said head coach Brad Cattermole. “It should be a fun meet and we are hoping to do well.”

The Cougars are looking to bounce back after a rough week on the road against the University of Utah. In addition to losing the meet, BYU also lost star sophomore Megan Bain to an Achilles injury for the rest of the season.

“We’re struggling a little bit losing two of our top athletes,” Cattermole said. “Haylee Rollins and Megan Bain are two of the top three gymnasts in almost every event. Those are hard gymnasts to lose and it is especially tough in the same season. Other gymnasts will be getting opportunities and we’ll see what happens.”

The opportunities for other gymnasts are fast approaching as Boise State provides a formidable opponent.

“Boise State is a really good team,” Cattermole explained. “They are like the rest of their teams, they have come a long way in the last few years. We’re going to have to perform well to beat them. We are looking forward to the challenge and we’ll see what happens.”

The meet will be broadcast live on BYUtv.