A slew of sparkling individual performances on vault and uneven bars weren’t enough to put the UW women’s gymnastics team above the visiting Arizona Wildcats Friday night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

After being nearly tied at the halfway point of the competition, mistakes on their last two events cost Washington the chance to upset its No. 14 rivals, who rallied on floor exercise and balance beam to beat the Huskies 195.3-193.925.

After the meet and a nearly minute-long team huddle, coach Joanne Bowers said her feelings about the Husky performance on Friday night were mixed.

“I thought there were some outstanding individual performances, but I wasn’t as pleased with our team performance,” Bowers said. “I’m not satisfied, and I told the team I hope they’re not satisfied either.”

Washington opened the competition on vault, one of the team’s strongest events. Already energized by strong performances from Katie Boyko (9.725), Cassidy Lance (9.8) and Kristen Omori (9.825), the arena burst into applause when Ashley Houghting glided down the runway and performed a flawless Yurchenko full with a stuck landing for a 9.85.

Houghting, a sophomore, tied with Arizona’s Brittney Morgan for her 11th career win on vault Friday night.

The Huskies continued to gather momentum on the uneven bars, led by strong performances from seniors Darcee Schiller (9.725) and Tori Quandt (9.75). Junior Nikki Waiss, who has been posting a new personal best on bars each meet for the past several weeks, earned the highest score of her collegiate career Friday night. Her 9.825 on bars was good enough for second place behind Arizona’s Karin Wurm.

Going into their third event, the Huskies seemed poised to beat Arizona if they could turn in solid performances. But beam jitters got to the lineup, with the leadoff gymnast falling and others recording major wobbles. Arizona, meanwhile, overcame a weak bars warm-up to hit during the competition and began to pull away on floor exercise. By the time the Huskies went to floor, chances of an upset were slim.

Despite a strong floor showing — led by Houghting with a 9.825 for first place — Washington felt the meet slide through its fingers. The desired 194 or better score didn’t happen either.

Bowers said the experience was a bit disappointing, but that it’s all a matter of learning how to compete.

“Physically [they] can do it,” she said. “We are getting better.”

Reach reporter Blythe Lawrence at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.