OU’s vault ‘out-of-this-world incredible’
NORMAN — Going event-by-event to recap OU's NCAA Regional semifinal victory on Thursday night, Sooners coach K.J. Kindler's rundown of the vault rotation was simple.
“Vault was out-of-this-world incredible,” Kindler said. “Best performance of the year. Wow, wow, wow.”
Kindler had a feeling OU's vault lineup was ready for a breakout night.
“They have been vaulting so well in the gym,” Kindler said. “Lou (Ball)'s been having a lot of fun with them and they've probably stuck more vaults in the last two weeks than they have all year long.
“It's all about awareness and it's all about consistency and I feel like their awareness is really good and if your awareness is good, you can find that landing.”
Kindler's feeling about the group headed by Ball, her longtime assistant who is the primary vault coach, proved to be correct as the Sooners used the event to launch a 198.175 score to win the regional semifinals Thursday at Lloyd Noble Center.
Arkansas finished second with a 196.975 to join top-ranked OU in Saturday's 5 p.m. regional final. Minnesota and Cal advanced to the regional final earlier Thursday.
The top two teams Saturday will advance to the NCAA Championships on April 14 and 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
OU has won 11 consecutive regional titles.
The Sooners typically start off on the vault at home, but in the postseason an NCAA draw sets the order so OU began on the floor exercise, posting a 49.525 before moving to the vault.
Senior Allie Stern began the event with a 9.900, followed by a 9.800 from
Katherine LeVasseur, a 9.950 from Jordan Bowers, a 9.850 from Danielle Sievers, a 9.900 by Olivia Trautman and a 9.950 from Danae Fletcher to wrap up a 49.550 performance in the rotation.
The score tied the Sooners’ season high and was the program’s third-highest vault score in regional competition.
“It felt really good,” Stern said. “Our whole vault team, we’ve had a couple great weeks of practice. We’ve stuck more landings as a whole. We feed off each other, so starting that off, I knew we were going to keep that momentum up.”
Bowers, Sievers and Fletcher are all freshmen. The trio accounted for eight of the Sooners’ 24 lineup spots on Thursday.
OU wrapped up the night with a 49.625 on the uneven bars and a 49.475 on the balance beam.
The Sooners’ 198.175 was the highest in the nation during Thursday’s regional semifinals. No. 2 Florida was the only other team to reach the 198 mark with a 198.125.
In a schedule change this season, the teams will have a day off between regional rounds.
Kindler said that switch hasn’t had an effect on her approach to the regionals, even if it was unlikely OU wouldn’t finish in the top two to advance.
“We take nothing for granted,” Kindler said. “We put our best team out there today.”
Arkansas was one of three unseeded teams to advance to the regional finals, as 16th-seeded Arizona State finished fourth in the Thursday night session at 196.600.
Iowa and Stanford also advanced as unseeded teams, knocking off No. 6 LSU and No. 13 Oregon State.