Senior Brianna Gades on the balance beam March 13, 2015 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)
The ASU gymnastics team ended their regular season the same way they started it – with a win that modeled consistency on all aspects of the meet.
On Senior Night, the Gym Devils said goodbye to three gymnasts in the best way possible, a 195.175-191.050 victory over Air Force.
"It was great to see Tasha (Sundby) and Brie (Gades) have a great night tonight and finish their career here on a high note," ASU head coach Rene Lyst said. "I thought the whole thing from top to bottom (was good). They were all very consistent, they did a great job on every event ... it was a great way to send the seniors off."
The Gym Devils swept the event, scoring highest in all four rotations in their first meet win since their season opener on Jan. 9.
Junior Taylor Allex won the all-around with a 39.175 and scored a meet-high 9.825 on the vault. Junior Carissa Kraus scored a meet-high 9.825 on the bars and Sundby scored meet-highs on the floor (9.900) and balance beam (9.800).
Undeterred by a stretch of poorly-timed injuries and tough losses against powerful conference opponents, the Gym Devils rallied together to earn Sundby, Gades and Morgan Steigerwalt a victory in their final meet at Wells Fargo Arena.
"Everyone was pretty excited for tonight so that definitely helped our performance," Lyst said. "Everybody wanted the seniors to have a great night and you always want your seniors to leave their home arena with a positive result and we definitely did that tonight."
Sundby tied her season-high with a 9.900 on the floor but was more excited about the team's victory as a unit.
"(Scoring well) individually is just a cherry on top," Sundby said. "But when the whole team has your back, it's much more fun to celebrate with your team. I was proud of how I did, I came in wanting to do my best because that's how you enjoy it most."
Sundby, who has scored a 9.900 or higher on the floor eight times in her career, said the emotion of the evening was far from a distraction – it was motivation.
"I think it helps," Sundby said. "To have a little more emotion in it makes it that much more exciting when you nail something."
Last year, Sundby nailed a 9.950 on the floor, the highest score by a Gym Devil on any event or rotation since 2010. Her season-high this year was a 9.900 and she hopes the team builds on the performance as they prepare for next week's Pac-12 Championships in Utah.
"This was a good meet for going into Pac-12s because it's going to keep the ball rolling so we're going to push forward from here and do our best."
The other senior competing on Friday night was Gades, who scored on 94 routines in her four years at ASU and was named the team's most valuable gymnast in 2013.
She looked past the emotion of Friday night to score a 9.775 on both the bars and balance beam.
"I was really excited," Gades said. "To be able to celebrate doing this for 17 years was exciting."
She agreed with Sundby that the win should help the team's confidence as they prepare for the postseason.
"I think this was a really good meet to go into Pac-12s with," Gades said. "Everyone pretty much hit and we had a really good meet to boost our confidence."
Lyst said the competition is a building block for success.
"I think if we can do what we did tonight, that would be respectable for us at Pac-12s. I think we can have some individuals highlight and, hopefully, place there. We'll get ready for that competition starting next week."
The Gym Devils will be traveling to Salt Lake City on March 21 for the Pac-12 Championships. The first session starts at 1 p.m. while the second starts at 6 p.m.
You can click here to see the full results from Friday's meet against Air Force.
Steigerwalt, ASU's third and final senior, did not compete on Friday night because of injuries. She competed only once this year, scoring a 9.550 on vault against Kentucky in early January.
She scored a career-high 9.900 on the floor and career-high 9.825 on the vault in 2013, a career-high 9.875 on the balance beam last year.
Reach the reporter at mtquesad@asu.edu or follow @mitchTquesada on Twitter.
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