Michigan Assigned to West Virginia for NCAA Regional Competition
3/22/2021 5:25:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's gymnastics team will make its 30th NCAA appearance when it travels to Morgantown, W.Va., for regional action Friday and Saturday, April 2-3, at WVU Coliseum. Michigan is seeded No. 4 overall and is the top seed in the nine-team Morgantown regional.
The Wolverines will be joined in West Virginia by No. 5 seed Cal, No. 12 seed BYU, No. 13 seed UCLA, Ohio State, Towson, Kent State, Penn State and West Virginia. In the NCAA regional format, each of the four regional sites will feature four sessions over three days.
U-M will be in Friday's 7 p.m. second-round session, matched up against UCLA, Kent State and the winner of Thursday's first-round battle between Penn State and host West Virginia. Friday's afternoon session will include Cal, BYU, Ohio State and Towson. The top two teams from each session Friday will advance to the regional final, scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
The top two teams from Saturday's final will advance to nationals. In addition, the top all-around gymnast (who is not on a qualifying team) and top individual on each event who is not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier will advance to the national championships in that event only. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 16-17, in Fort Worth, Texas.
"We're thrilled to go back to Morgantown for the NCAA Regional," said U-M head coach Bev Plocki, a WVU graduate. "We're going to get to see some teams that we haven't seen, and I love that. West Virginia has always done a really first-rate job of hosting championships like this, so we are thrilled to be going back to my old stomping grounds.
"I think 'unfinished business' has sort of been the whole underlying theme; we've kind of also come up with 'fired up.' I just think that the more that we go down this road, the closer that we get to the regional and national, the more fired up that we get to be able to have an opportunity to take care of our unfinished business."
This marks the 29th consecutive year that Plocki has led the Wolverines to a NCAA appearance. They have gone on to advance to the NCAA Championship in 23 of the previous 29 seasons. Prior to Plocki, the Wolverines only competed in the NCAA Championship one time, winning the NCAA Regional and placing 10th overall in 1982.
The Wolverines eclipsed the 198 barrier for team score on two occasions this season, earning a 198.025 before breaking the program record for the second consecutive week with a 198.100 at Maryland. Michigan also notched a program-best 49.600 on the balance beam and posted the second-best score in program history on the vault with a 49.800.
The Wolverines enter the NCAA Regional with a NQS (National Qualifying Score) of 197.800 and are ranked in the top 15 on all four events, including leading the nation on the vault. The team enters the regional with a 17-2 record and is 12-1 away from home with its only loss coming to Minnesota at the Big Ten Championships.
• NCAA Release
