Assistant gymnastics coach Sharon Sabin said the team’s confidence is high after a season-best performance at Ohio State last week.

“Practice went pretty smooth this week,” Sabin said. “Scoring so well on the road definitely gave the girls a confidence boost.”

The Flashes return to the M.A.C. Center Sunday after two weeks on the road to host Mid-American Conference foe Bowling Green.

“They’re excited to have a home meet again,” Sabin said. “It’s nice to have that comfort level back.”

Even though the Flashes posted a season-best 195.775 against No. 14 Ohio State last week, Sabin said there were still improvements to be made. Coach Brice Biggin, who was unavailable for interview because of illness, said earlier in the week changes would be made to a couple of the girls’ floor routines in hopes of more consistent scores.

“Those changes were made, and I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they’ve worked,” Sabin said. “It should make these kids more consistent. It’s all about being consistent in our sport.”

Sabin said the way national rankings work in gymnastics is unique to the sport. Instead of looking at win/loss records, rankings are based upon team scores. The past few weeks, the Flashes have been plagued with a few low individual scores that bring their overall score down.

“We put six kids up on an event, and we count five scores,” Sabin said. “Instead of having to drop a really low score, we’d like to have six scores on each event worth counting. Once we get that consistency, we can start tweaking the little things.”

After helping to lead the Flashes to the season-best score and capturing the all-around honors for the third time this year, sophomore Marie Case was named Mid-American Conference gymnast of the week.

“She’s a great kid, and we’re really lucky to have her on our team,” Sabin said. “It’s taken her a lot to actually smile and joke in the gym because she’s just that focused. We tell the other girls, ‘If you want a work ethic, that’s a work ethic.”

The Flashes will enter the meet with a record of 3-2 in the MAC. Bowling Green, however, is 0-4. Assistant coach Craig Ballard said the difference doesn’t change the Flashes’ approach to the opponent.

“From meet to meet, our goal is to go out and hit 24 for 24,” Ballard said. “Our standard is our standard, and it doesn’t matter if it’s Bowling Green or Ohio State. They are going to get our same punch every time.”

This week’s meet will be dubbed the team’s “Pack the M.A.C.C.” event. Action is set to begin Sunday at 1 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.

Contact Erica Mucci at [email protected].