The saying goes: "All good things must come to an end." It rang true on Friday for the West Virginia University Gymnastics team.
No. 15 Michigan interrupted the Mountaineers' two-meet win streak by outscoring West Virginia with 196.4 points.
"They're a top team, and we expected coming in that they were going to be pretty good," said WVU head coach Linda Burdette-Good. "When you have someone that is a top (20) team you can't make the mistakes we did tonight, so it was hard to hang up there.
WVU (10-3) placed second with a solid 194.475, defeating William and Mary (187.725), who placed third.
Through the course of the previous two meets, West Virginia totaled nine wins.
Burdette-Good was not upset with how her team fared against an elite program.
"We didn't do badly. We just didn't have the difficulty to match them on bars," she said. "On vault, we just hopped a lot of our landings. We had opportunities, but I'm not disappointed with our overall performance."
After the first rotation West Virginia trailed Michigan by 0.475 as the Wolverines jumped out with a 49.200 score on bars.
The Mountaineers opened the meet with a 48.725 point total on vault. Junior Amy Bieski and senior Chelsi Tabor had matching 9.775 scores to lead WVU.
Bieski scored 39.025 points to finish second overall in the meet, 0.525 points behind meet winner Kylee Botterman of Michigan who scored a 39.55.
"You can only control what you do out there," Bieski said. "Michigan has been a top program for years and we couldn't let that discourage us coming into this meet."
Whether it was adjusting to the intimidating nature of the Coliseum or competing against harsh opponents, W&M struggled. The Tribe began the meet scoring just 45.750 on beam.
Michigan added to its lead after two events scoring 48.925 on beam. Heralded freshman Natalie Beilstein racked up a 9.850 score for UM.
Bielstein, a competitor in three events surged throughout the meet. The Butler, Pa., native placed second after a dazzling floor performance in which she tallied a 9.825. Her 9.9 vault showing gave her first place in the event.
Burdette-Good had heard about what this freshman brought to the table, and was impressed by what she saw first hand.
"I talked to (Michigan head coach) Bev (Plocki), she said that last week was the first meet she put it all together. I didn't see too much of her but from what I hear she is going to be special."
Plocki was a former gymnast under Burdette-Good. The former Bev Fry was a three-year letter winner at WVU through 1985-87.
The Mountaineers struggled on the beam. They still managed to score a solid 48.475 thanks to a 9.8 from senior Shelly Purkat.
Burdette-Good was happy Purkat looked as strong as she did, the Edina, Minn., native was suffering from a lingering ankle injury.
Bieski tried to salvage a last second comeback for the Mountaineers on floor. She did her part scoring a 9.825. A 48.725 team performance was not enough to catch the Wolverines.
West Virginia remains at home Friday for a dual meet against Ohio State.
matthew.peaslee@mail.wvu.edu
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