The Gators went into Memorial Coliseum wanting to prove they could excel away from the friendly confines of the O’Connell Center.
Friday night against No. 12 Kentucky, Florida did just that, as it won their dual meet, 196.050–195.350. The win gave No. 4 Florida (2-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) its first road victory.
Freshman Ashanée Dickerson continued her early-season surge and walked away with another all-around title Friday. Her total score of 39.25 made Dickerson three-for-three in all-around performances this season.
“She’s a robot,” UF coach Rhonda Faehn said. “I think her beam was better than her score reflected and her floor routine was the best one she’s done so far this year. She just keeps showing improvement and she’s only going to get better.”
After an uncharacteristic 8.75 on the bars by senior Amanda Castillo, the team was able to rebound nicely, and it finished the event with a 49.05 and a .400-point advantage after one rotation.
It was a lead the Gators would not relinquish.
Following the first rotation, the Gators scored well on the vault (49.175) and on their floor exercises (49.075) before closing the meet out on the balance beam.
Last week, Florida had issues in the middle of its lineups.
Going into the final rotation of Friday’s meet, the Gators made sure there were no costly errors this time around.
On the beam, senior Courtney Gladys bounced back from a shaky routine against Arkansas and scored a 9.825, which tied with freshman Liz Green and Kentucky’s Storey Morris for first place in the event.
The team’s 48.750 on the beam, despite being its lowest team score of the meet, was still good enough for the Gators to hold off the Wildcats and come away with the team’s second-straight victory.
“It was a complete 180 from the first road meet,” Gladys said. “We’re definitely heading in the right direction for the rest of the season.”
