TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 3 Alabama gymnastics team (8-4, 4-3 SEC) recorded a 197.200-196.675 victory over No. 22 Kentucky (1-8-2, 1-4-2 SEC) to remain undefeated at home. The night was highlighted by a season-high 49.600 rotation score on the uneven bars, a mark that is tied for the fourth-highest score in program history, as well as for the third highest, nationally, as of Friday’s competition.

UA swept the four individual event honors, as Chloe LaCoursiere (bars – 9.975 | beam – 9.925) and Azaraya Ra-Akbar (vault – 9.975 | floor – 9.950) won titles. With the Tide not having a gymnast compete all four events, Kentucky’s Delaynee Rodriguez won the all-around with a 39.500 score.

“We wanted to give the people what they came for, which was an adventurous, thrilling ride, and I feel like we got that tonight. Obviously, there was a series of uncharacteristic mistakes throughout tonight. We wish we could go back and redo those moments, but all we can do is learn from them. As we gather together as a team at the end, it always comes back to, ‘what can I do? What will I do?’, and we can learn from those moments where we just fell out of our locked-in approach in certain ways. I think we’ve been going back-to-back weeks with some teams where it just creates and ignites an energy and excitement, and I feel like we missed a little bit of that tonight. We weren’t quite as clear with our focus and our approach, but we can learn from that, and we can make sure that we don’t repeat that on Sunday at Illinois.

“This team takes a lot of pride in being the best at getting better, and we just need to get on track and do that. We weren’t that far off track tonight but of course, counting a fall like we did on the beam lineup – five tenths off your team score that we had to count is certainly a hard thing to recover from. But I think this team did everything and more to recover from that – to make a statement and prove to themselves that they can handle those hard moments. They’re not going to get down and give up. They’re going to fight, lean in and make sure that they don’t give anything else away. I think our floor team did a great job of making a statement and our bars team had to follow that from vault as well.”

Team Stats

• With the victory, Alabama remained undefeated inside Coleman Coliseum and continued its streak of a 197-team-score in every competition this season
• For the first time since 2024, the Tide captured a season-high 49.600 rotation score on bars to tie the program’s fourth-highest total in the event
• Love Birt made her collegiate debut, scoring a 9.875 on beam after the Tide saw its first two gymnasts fall on the apparatus
• Including her score on bars (9.975), Chloe LaCoursiere has recorded a 9.925-or-higher in all 10 meets this season
• For the fourth time in 2026, Azaraya Ra-Akbar rattled off 9.900-or-higher scores in all three of her events – 9.975 on vault, 9.900 on bars and a 9.950 on floor
• LaCoursiere and Ra-Akbar split the four individual event titles:

  • Vault – Ra-Akbar – 9.975
  • Uneven Bars – LaCoursiere – 9.975
  • Balance Beam – LaCoursiere – 9.925
  • Floor Exercise – Ra-Akbar – 9.950

• Four UA gymnasts either tied or set a career-high score on Friday night

  • Ryan Fuller – 9.950, bars – tied career high
  • LaCoursiere – 9.975, bars – tied career high / 9.925, beam – tied career high
  • Matters – 9.925, floor – career high
  • Ra-Akbar – 9.975, vault – tied career high / 9.950, floor – tied career high

How it Happened

Vault

• Alabama’s star freshman Ra-Akbar highlighted the opening rotation as the anchor scored an electric, career-high-tying 9.975
• The Tide ended with a 49.225 rotation score

Uneven Bars

• Four different gymnasts scored a 9.900-or-higher, as Paityn Walker led with a season-high-tying 9.900
• Ryan Fuller started a three-straight run of UA gymnasts scoring 9.900 or higher to close the rotation, as the sophomore matched her career high of 9.950. LaCoursiere followed with her third 9.975 this season, while Ra-Akbar anchored with a 9.900.
• The Tide’s season-high 49.600 rotation score tied the program’s fourth-highest mark ever and is currently the third highest in the nation as of Friday

Balance Beam

• Despite the first two UA gymnasts recording a fall, sophomore Love Birt – in her collegiate debut – spearheaded a run of four consecutive scores of 9.875-or-higher to regain momentum on the apparatus
• Gabby Gladieux followed Birt with a mirroring 9.875, as LaCoursiere matched her career high of a 9.925 and Kylee Kvamme logged her fourth consecutive 9.900-or-better routine (9.900)
• The Tide ended with a 48.825 rotation score

Floor Exercise

• Rachel Rybicki (No. 2 spot, 9.900) ignited a three-straight run of UA scorers going 9.900-plus, as McKenzie Matters followed with a career-high 9.925 and Ra-Akbar went 9.950 to match her career high
• Gladieux closed the night with a 9.900 to give Alabama a 49.550 rotation score

Up Next

• The Tide will travel to Champaign, Ill., for its Sunday meet against Illinois
• The meet will begin at 2 p.m. CT and will stream live on B1G+