No. 25 Illinois women’s gymnastics is coming off of a narrow loss this past weekend to No. 22 Nebraska while gearing up to compete against No. 11 Ohio State this Monday.
Senior Abby Mueller tied in first place on the floor with a score of 9.95 against the Cornhuskers, and she believes that all of the hard work the team has been doing for months is why they are able to score so high now that the regular season is starting.
“I think that we did a lot of really hard work over the summer and preseason, which is leading us to really good scores, and obviously, I did get a really good score this weekend,” Mueller said. “I think that we’re going to see more of those, and that’s just because we put in so much work for the results to be there at the perfect time.”
Mueller shared how the team has been optimistic despite coming off of a loss and that they know what they have to accomplish in order to get the Big Ten wins that they want — not only for the rest of the season but for this week’s upcoming matchup against Ohio State.
“I think that we’re super optimistic, especially going into another Big Ten matchup this week,” Mueller noted. “Knowing the things that we have to do to win are small things so we know that we don’t have to make any huge changes in order to get the Big Ten wins that we want to.”
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Despite being ranked higher, Ohio State’s record is filled with fewer wins than Illinois. Through three meets, Ohio State sits at 1-2 while Illinois has earned a 5-2 record. Ohio State suffered losses to both LSU and Michigan but did, however, come out on top against Towson and Ball State at a tri-meet. Historically, the two programs have an even 7-7 split against each other despite the Buckeyes claiming victory in three of the last four.
According to Mueller, consistency is key for the Illini when it comes to being under pressure at these meets, which will help them both in the long run and against Ohio State on Monday.
“I’d say it’s anybody’s game, especially with how early we are in the season and how right now rankings are based on by averages,” Mueller said. “One thing about us is that we are a really consistent team. You can see that our scores are super consistent, and I think that really helps, especially in pressure Big Ten matches … because when we are in a pressure situation, we really rely on our consistency, and everyone is able to do really good.”
Illinois will be competing against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday at 6 p.m.
