Arlotta all-around win not enough as Pitt falls to New Hampshire

The Pitt gymnastics team’s performance against the University of New Hampshire on Sunday can… The Pitt gymnastics team’s performance against the University of New Hampshire on Sunday can best be summarized by the great Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Despite posting their best team score of the young season, the Panthers (2-2) lost their East Atlantic Gymnastic League (EAGL) conference opener to the Wildcats (6-1), 191.15 to 193.8. Still, it wasn’t hard for Pitt to find positives in the meet.

“We get rid of a couple mistakes and we’re right there with them,” said head coach Debbie Yohman.

New Hampshire took first through fourth place in vault. Senior Amanda Hall led the way for the Wildcats in the event with a 9.8. Senior Jen Jones took second place with a 9.775. Andrea Arlotta was Pitt’s highest finisher, coming in fifth with a score of 9.675.

Panther freshmen Victoria McGuigan-Carl (9.650) and Anya Chayka (9.6), who made her first vault appearance, came in sixth and seventh, respectively.

New Hampshire took first and second in the uneven bars as well, with both senior Mariana Pena Trestini and junior Heather Moore recording 9.825. Arlotta finished third with 9.8, and Pitt sophomore Samantha DeBone took fourth with a personal-best 9.775.

Wildcat junior Jaime deMello posted a career-high 9.875 to take first on the balance beam. Trestini placed high in this event as well, turning in a 9.775 to take second in the event.

Pitt’s Chayka received third, with a personal-best 9.750. Panther sophomore Nicole Drane (9.6) and Arlotta (9.475), finished fourth and fifth in the event.

The highlight of the Panthers’ trip to Durham, N.H., was the floor exercise. Although Hall finished first for the Wildcats, Pitt recorded a season-high team score of 48.600.

McGuigan-Carl and Panther junior Jessica Garber tied for fourth with a score of 9.775. Arlotta took sixth with a 9.750. Chayka, who stepped in for teammate Robyn Marszalek, and Drane both recorded a 9.650 for eighth place.

“Our floors were gorgeous, the best we’ve had all year,” Yohman said.

Arlotta finished first in the all-around competition with a season-high 38.7. She beat out New Hampshire’s Hall (38.375), whom Yohman calls, “one of the best all-arounders in the EAGL.”

“[Arlotta’s] a tremendous all-arounder. She rocked on floor. She also had one of the best vaults of the season to date.”

Sophomore Kaitlin Harrison finished third in the all-around for the Panthers with a 36.8.

Pitt will return to the Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday for their first EAGL conference home meet of the season against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The meet is set to start at 7 p.m.