CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois women's gymnastics is set to compete against Ball State in the first round of the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional, Wednesday at 1 p.m. CT, at the Crisler Center.
It marks the Fighting Illini's 20th consecutive season competing in the NCAA Regionals.
The winner of Wednesday's Round 1 dual between the Fighting Illini and the Cardinals will advance to Round 2 where they will compete in a quad meet vs. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 16 NC State, and No. 17 Ohio State, Thursday at 6 p.m. CT, for two spots in the Regional Final.
The other half of the Ann Arbor Regional bracket features No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 and host Michigan, No. 23 Kent State, and No. 25 Penn State.
Scouting Report
Ball State is coming off a 196.475 performance at the Mid Atlantic Conference Championships, just .05 behind first-place Western Michigan.
The Cardinals claimed four conference titles. Ashley Szymanski won vault (9.925) and Suki Pfister claimed first place on the floor (9.900), while Zoe Middleton won both the beam (9.900) and all-around (39.525) titles.
Ball State enters the regionals at No. 34 in the Road to Nationals rankings, just three spots below Illinois, which comes in at No. 31 following the Big Ten Championships.
History
Illinois has only competed against Ball State twice. The Illini defeated the Cardinals in a dual meet (195.450-192.250) in 2004. In 2013, the Orange and Blue also scored 196.300 to claim first place in a tri-meet against Ball State (193.500) and UIC (192.625).
This will be the first time that Illini head coach Nadalie Walsh will face Ball State. Walsh previously served as the Cardinals' head coach from 2008-13, coaching four Mid-American Conference individual event champions and guiding six gymnasts to 10 appearances in the NCAA Regionals.
