Earlier today, Bowling Green gymnastics lost a “rematch” to Illinois after facing them only two days before in a quad meet on Friday. With a close loss to the Illini, Bowling Green moves to a 4-11 record with just two more matches before the Mid-American Conference tournament.  

Resulting in a 196.075 – 194.500 score, all first place spots were earned by Illinois, with a Falcon always close behind.  

Here’s how it happened. 

Starting with the bars, the Falcons earned the same team score as they did in Columbus, a 48.150. Leading Bowling Green was Isabella Rivelli, who tied for second in the event with a 9.775, an improvement from her last time on the bars.  

Despite being outperformed by Illinois on the vault, Bowling Green had two gymnasts tie for third with a 9.825 score, Love Akpan and Kathryn Weilbacher. In this second rotation, Bowling Green showed an improvement from Friday night, logging a 48.850 team score in the event. 

Next for Bowling Green, the Falcons took to the floor while Illinois made their way to the beam. With a team total of 48.575, the same exact score as Friday night, two gymnasts tied for fourth, Akpan and Weilbacher with a score of 9.800.   

Closing the weekend on the beam, the Falcons logged their best team event performance of the day with a 48.925 score. Akpan led Bowling Green with a 9.825 score and tied for second place. 

Weilbacher and Akpan represented the Falcons in one more event, the all-around. Scoring 38.475 and 38.300 respectively, the pair placed second and third.  

Akpan also led the night in personal accomplishments, who tied her career high for the vault and set a new PR on the beam with a 9.825 score. In addition, Nadia Parente also tied her career high on the beam with a 9.825.  

Up next for Bowling Green, the team will travel to Pittsburgh for a dual-meet versus the Pittsburgh Panthers on Friday, March 8 starting at 7 p.m. 

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