The Sun Devils will be in Corvallis, Ore., tonight to counter No. 10 Oregon State in another Pac-10 showdown.
ASU (0-3, 0-2 Pac-10) is the 23rd-ranked team in the nation despite being winless on the season.
The Sun Devils are trying to find answers as they hit the road for the first time in 2009.
The main concern for ASU is the team’s last two performances on the uneven bars.
The Sun Devils did not score above a 9.775 at the Stanford meet, and a couple of the girls fell during the event against UCLA.
“I’m hoping we can get back on track with uneven bars,” coach John Spini said. “[Senior] Tiana [Jean] and [junior] Kaitlynn [Bormann] need to take the lead.”
Uneven bars is the only event in which the Sun Devils did not rank in the top 80 in the nation.
Spini said he is hoping that Francesca Mercurio will participate in the meet after getting injured in warm-ups against the Bruins.
He also said that all-arounder Nicole Harris tweaked her shoulder and may have to miss the meet.
If Harris is out, then freshman Amber Hammerschmidt may see more time.
Though the Sun Devils are battling injuries and poor performances on bars, they have made improvements on vault, an event they have had trouble with so far this season.
The team has been putting a lot of focus on vaulting in practices again this week, and Spini said he expects strong performances in the event.
“We do not need to do anything fancy, just get by with vaulting right now,” he said.
OSU’s squad features two highly ranked all-arounders.
No. 29 Jami Lanz and No. 31 Mandi Rodriguez will be the main gymnasts who will lead the way for the Beavers.
Rodriguez was named Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week, and Leslie Mak was honored with the Pac-10 Special Performance of the Week.
Mak scored two almostperfect scores with a 9.95 on bars and a 9.9 on beam. The Beavers had a season-high team score of 196.650 against then-No. 2 Utah. Despite a slow start, Spini said his team’s confidence is growing.
“It’s coming along slowly, but they are getting better,” he said.
Reach the reporter at kmthomp7@asu.edu.
