The Washington gymnastics team completed their best meet of the year this weekend, as they scored their highest team score of the season against No. 5 Louisiana State University Friday. While the Dawgs may have fallen to the Tigers 196.550-195.175, the team improved their regional qualifying score (RQS), which will help them get a stronger bid in the postseason.

“We had a really good meet,” UW coach Joanne Bowers said. “We felt that getting a good road score really helped our RQS. LSU beat us but they are the No. 5 team in the country.”

Only the top 36 teams in the country make it to the NCAA Regional meet in April. NCAA officials determine who these 36 teams are by taking each team’s top three team scores, either home or away, and then their top three away team scores and averaging them. By scoring a 195 against the Tigers, the Huskies will be able to drop an earlier season team score of 191 that they earned against No. 16 Oregon State in January.

The team really pulled together against LSU, following its hectic travel over to Louisiana. The team had its flight from Dallas cancelled and then some missing luggage that wasn’t returned till an hour before the meet. Nonetheless, the girls seemed to have kept their cool and performed their best in front of 3,300 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“We were really pleased with the girls,” Bowers said. “Everyone stepped up to help the team any way they could.”

The team started off the night with a second place finish from Nikki Waiss on beam. The senior scored a season-high 9.875 to claim the second place title. Junior Ashley Houghting had a great night as well, taking a second place in the vault with a near perfect score of 9.95. Houghting also took home the all-around title, which is awarded to the gymnast whose scores in each event average out the highest.

Washington’s freshmen continued on their streak of stellar performances. Freshman Samantha Walior and Hayley Bogart tied for third place on the beam to help the Huskies pick up a team victory in the event.

While the team fell to a 1-10 overall record, all of their losses have been from top-25 ranked teams, with four coming from top-10 ranked teams. Still, the Huskies’ hopes for the postseason are strong.

“We are well on our way to finishing the season the way we wanted to,” Bowers remarked.

The Dawgs will have their first matchup against Seattle Pacific this Friday at 7 p.m. in Bank of America Arena.

[Reach reporter Rebecca Rogers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]