The women’s gymnastics team posted its season-high score in a loss to Central Michigan on Friday night.

The Huskies (3-2, 1-2 MAC) beat their previous season-high by a 1.150 with a team score of 194.025 but still were outpreformed by the No. 21 nationally ranked Chippewas (4-2, 1-1 MAC) and their 194.800.

“I think when you get in a situation like that against a quality team, it gives you a better chance to rise to the occasion,” said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. “Even though we got the loss, we try to put that almost in a separate category. Our sport, wins, losses are important, but it doesn’t move you anywhere. That’s not what gets you to another level. It’s all about that raising the bar for the score.”

The Huskies high scoring output was ignited from the beginning of the meet with the team’s season-high score on uneven parallel bars with a 48.700. Freshman Lauren Africano started the Huskies off with a 9.775 and junior Megan Melendez counted the same score for her routine to lead the team on bars.

Bars had been the lower scoring event for NIU all season long, and while Morreale does not credit that one single event for the high score, he knows it was definitely a shot in the arm to start the meet.

“You never like to say it’s one thing, because a score like that is a culmination of all that we did,” Morreale said. “It definitely sets the tone for the meet.”

On the second rotation of the meet, freshman Jaelyn Olsen led the Huskies on vault and tied for the high score of the meet on the event. Also on vault was a new but familiar face with Melendez performing for her first time in the starting line-up.

“I personally think vault is the most fun event just because it’s so quick,” Melendez said. “I definitely have a lot to improve on; it wasn’t my best by any means.”

Rotating to the third event, usually an NIU strong suit, the floor exercise started off shaky but ended on a high with seniors Natalie Sutter and Marisa Liptak tallying a 9.875 and 9.800, respectively. Sutter’s score was the highest mark of the meet on floor.

Finishing off the rotations, the Huskies ended on beam where Melendez led NIU with a 9.775.

“We were excited because it was the best performance we’ve had so far,” Melendez said. “It definitely wasn’t everyone’s best; there are still a lot of spots we can improve on. We haven’t reached our cap. We can still get a couple points higher…if everyone just improves on the small stuff. It’s exciting to see that we can score that well and still not be at our best.”