DeKalb — The gymnastics team defeated the Yale University Bulldogs Friday to earn its second win on the season, while falling to the Iowa State University Cyclones and the West Virginia University Mountaineers, moving its overall record to 2-8 this season.

NIU scored 194.375 on the evening, 1.825 short of the leader, Iowa State. Unfortunately, the Huskies had to count two scoreless efforts on the uneven bars that may have cost the Huskies a victory of two.

“We had a really solid meet up to that point and, uncharacteristically, had two misses and ended up having to count one of those misses,” said Head Coach Sam Morreale. “Whenever you count a miss, it really hurts.”

Senior captain Kathrine Prentice jump-started the evening with a personal season-high 9.850 on the balance beam. Her score matched her career high for the seventh time. Junior Paige Nicholas also scored well on the beam with a 9.700.

As a team, NIU tied its season high on the balance beam with a score of 48.575.

Junior captain Anna Martucci scored a 9.900 on the floor exercise, matching her season high. Morreale said a couple gymnasts are starting to showcase their skills.

“Someone like Amanda Bartemio [who has] been doing three events for us right now — she’s a sophomore who is really starting to come into her own, and judges are starting to notice her and give her good scores,” Morreale said. “Then there’s a junior like Anna Martucci, who is probably one of the best kids I’ve ever coached on floor as far as her talent level, and her performance is off the charts.”

The Huskies scored a season-high event score of 48.850 on vault, fueled by a career-high score from sophomore Cinny Lamberti at 9.850. Reigning Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Week in senior Ashley Potts also had a nice showing, posting a 9.825.

NIU only posted a 48.175 score on bars despite several strong individual performances. Potts scored a 9.825, and two more Huskies finished with at least 9.800 a piece.

Despite dropping a pair of losses at the meet, Morreale said he saw improvement and is looking forward to the team’s potential.

“We had talked all week about landings and trying to limit deductions for steps,” Morreale said. “On all three events, vault, bars and beam, I thought we did a better job of that. We’re chasing that meet where we put it all together. I feel really good with where we’re at.”

The team will be back in action 6 p.m. Friday at Eastern Michigan University to take on the Eagles in Ypsilanti, Michigan.