Bulldogs Tough--Crowd Tougher : Unbeaten UCLA Women Need Best Effort Against Georgia Gymnasts

UCLA women’s gymnastics Coach Jerry Tomlinson would like nothing better than to tame the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday and silence Georgia fans who “border on the vicious.”

But Tomlinson said the chance of winning at Georgia is slim if his team merely matches its performance Sunday (185.7) in a win over Washington (182.8).

“They can’t think of saving themselves for Georgia,” said Tomlinson, who has coached at UCLA since 1980. “It’s too hard to go from two extremes--going from it’s no big deal (against Washington) to walking into one of the most brutal crowds around.”

“It will be the most intense atmosphere UCLA will go up against this year,” said Georgia Assistant Coach Scott Bull, who had been a UCLA assistant for six years. “They (Georgia fans) are proud of their gymnastics program and make no attempt to hide it.”

The undefeated Bruins (10-0, 7-0 in Pac-10) are No. 1 in the nation. Georgia, last year’s NCAA champion, is No. 2.

In last year’s NCAA championships, Georgia, seeded No. 5, beat No. 1 UCLA to finish first, while UCLA wound up a disappointing third.

Suzanne Yoculan, coach of Georgia, said UCLA’s inconsistency in pressure meets could hurt it this weekend.

“There’s a lot of intimidation going on and you have to psyche up,” Yoculan said. “UCLA has a reputation of falling apart in the big meets.”

But UCLA has yet to come unglued this season, handling its opponents with relative ease despite injuries to All-Americans Tanya Service, Kim Hamilton and Gigi Zosa.

Service, 20, who competes in the all-around, which consists of uneven bars, balance beam, vaulting horse and floor exercise, was sidelined for five weeks with a sprained ankle tendon.

She found sitting out bitter.

“The frustration rejuvenated me,” said Service, a member of the 1987 U.S. national team and silver medalist in the floor exercise competition of the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival.

Tomlinson said Service’s performance against Washington is indicative of her competitive spirit.

“Tanya is just coming back from an injury and except for her character and her intensity, she shouldn’t be on the floor,” he said. “If we had more flexibility to not use her at all now, we would keep her out.”

Zosa, an All-American in her freshman year, had surgery in 1986 to repair torn knee ligaments. The surgery kept her out of competition for the 1987 season.

“I was doing a double full (flip) during floor exercise,” said Zosa, who now performs her routines with a bulky knee brace. “I landed, my knee gave out, I heard a pop, and they stopped the music.”

Zosa, 20, of Huntington Beach, is accustomed to pressure. She was a member of the Canadian national team and finished 28th out of 70 competitors in the all-around in the 1984 Olympics.

But being out for a year with the injury has taken its toll.

“I’m still getting back in competition mode,” she said.

Hamilton, 20, who won floor exercise in the 1987 NCAA championships, injured a disk in her neck when she landed a vault straight-legged and sat out for two weeks.

But last Sunday, her first meet since the injury, Hamilton won floor exercise (9.6) and scored well on balance beam (9.35) and uneven bars (9.55).

“She’s absolutely beautiful and executes flawlessly,” said Arlene Hartry, who was head judge for floor exercise. “She’s fantastic on the floor and there’s no reason she can’t be (NCAA) floor champion again.”

Even though Washington was her first post-injury meet, Hamilton did not appear tentative in her floor performance. But she did, Tomlinson said, “water down” her routine to avoid risky maneuvers.

Like Hamilton, sophomore Jill Andrews is consistently solid in competition. Andrews, 19, who was a 1987 All-American, led the team Sunday with an overall score of 38.25 and scored a career best of 9.6 on the balance beam.

UCLA needs strong showings from freshmen Yolande Mativy and Laura Neustedter and sophomore Shawn McGinnis to beat Georgia.

Tomlinson hopes his seasoned gymnasts will rally greener team members.

“Tanya, Jill and Kim will always do the job,” he said. “They’re competitors and they’ve been in the hottest of arenas.”