Women’s gymnastics went on the road for the first time this season and tasted defeat for the first time, as well.

Heading into Ball State (2-2, 2-0 MAC) for its second MAC meet of the season, the Huskies (2-1, 1-1 MAC) were in the lead going into the last rotation of the meet, but could not produce enough on balance beam to overcome the Ball State floor group.

“We were in the meet the whole time up until the last [routine], which is a good thing,” said NIU head coach Sam Morreale in a news release “We could have put them away and we didn’t. There were numerous opportunities. It almost makes [the loss] more frustrating because you see the potential. With the lineup we have out there, we should be going 194-plus.”

While the final score produced NIU’s lowest point total of the season, falling 192.475-192.075, the Huskies had some individual highs and an overall better team performance on a weaker point of the team thus far in bars.

The Huskies posted a season best 47.800 on bars, including high scores from junior Megan Melendez with a 9.800 and a 9.700 from freshman Lauren Africano.

While the first road meet provided experience for freshmen, they seemed unfazed by the ordeal as Africano was able to post her bar score and Jaelyn Olsen led NIU on vault with a 9.725.

Another big performance came from sophomore Amanda Stepp, who has received a much larger role this season and has come up big. Stepp led NIU on floor with a 9.775, added a 9.675 on vault, and a 9.700 on beam.

The lead that NIU held going into the final rotation was erased due to three falls on beam. All three of those scores came to 9.275 or lower, the lowest being a 9.025. Despite the performances of Stepp and Melendez with another 9.800 on beam, the deficit was too great to overcome as Ball State posted a 48.500 on floor for the final rotation.

“Beam has been our solid event the first two; they’ll bounce back,” Morreale said in a news release. “On floor we were ourselves. We need to score 48-plus on vault, and we‘ve got to keep improving on bars.

“I still feel good about this team; we can do great things. We have to keep true to what we’re trying to do, and not change the plan. A road meet is a different animal, so we got that [experience] out of the way and we’ll move forward.“