By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
It wouldn't be accurate to say
Andrew Lyubovsky had low expectations in the finals of the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships Saturday night. A better way to say it would be that he had no expectations.
Maybe it was that feeling of bliss that contributed to an outstanding routine in the parallel bars that earned him All-America status with a sixth-place finish. He came in ranked 19
th nationally but finished with a season-best score of 13.866.
Lyubovsky is the program's eighth All-American, its first since 2017.
"I wasn't expecting really anything," Lyubovsky said with a laugh. "Coming into the meet, I was hoping to make finals. Then I had a pretty similar attitude for finals, not really expecting much.
"The first day and second day, I wasn't really nervous. Usually, I'm anxious and feel it in my chest. Maybe an hour before the event on the second day, I started realizing, 'OK, I'm getting a little nervous now.'"
Lyubovsky was the first competitor Saturday night, not an enviable position because judges' scores tend to rise as routines continue. Interestingly, three of W&M's previous four All-Americans also were the first routine.
Minnesota's Shane Wiskus, the defending champion, took first place at 14.433.
Lyubovsky is scheduled to graduate in May, after only three years, with degrees in computer science and neuroscience. He plans to earn his Master of Science Intelligent Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University.
"This was very likely his last gymnastics routine," W&M coach
Mike Powell said. "To have it be pretty darn near perfect on the biggest stage there is pretty exceptional for him."
Baseball: Offensive firepower keys three-game sweep of Elon
In the early weeks of the season, William & Mary struggled to produce runs. That began improving as March turned into April, and last weekend the Tribe exploded.
In three wins over Elon, its first three-game sweep of the season, W&M scored 27 runs on 33 hits — which included six doubles, a triple and four home runs. The Tribe batted .320 for the series and raised its season batting average 12 points.
Third baseman
Ben Williamson led the Tribe by going 6-for-13 with a home run and four RBI. Right fielder
Matt Thomas was 5-for-13 with a home run four RBI, and utility man
Mark Trotta was 4-for-11 with a double, a triple, and six RBI.
"The bats usually come around when the weather warms up and guys get more at bats under their belt," head coach
Brian Murphy said. "We looked more like ourselves, what we expected coming in. It was good to see. We definitely needed it."
Elon had swept the Tribe the previous weekend in North Carolina. In an 8-0 loss, W&M was shut out on three hits by Phoenix's Brian Edgington. In Sunday's rematch at Plumeri Park, Edgington lasted one inning and gave up seven earned runs.
The Tribe also got outstanding work from its bullpen over the weekend. Eight relievers pitched 12 1/3 innings for a combined ERA of 2.19.
Jack Cone,
Ben Greenspon and
Randy Prosperi each had saves.
With the sweep, W&M (9-18, 6-6) moved into second place in the CAA's South Division.
"We needed to get back in the mix," Murphy said.
The Tribe is scheduled to host James Madison in a three-game set this weekend.
Field hockey: Snowed out in Boston
With a chance to clinch a spot in the CAA tournament, the Tribe flew to Boston Thursday morning to take on Northeastern the following day. At least that was the plan.
Instead, a Friday morning snowstorm made for unplayable conditions, and the game was canceled.
"They were expecting a lot of rain," W&M coach
Tess Ellis said. "The lot of rain turned into a lot of snow.
"By the time we got to the field, there were two inches of snow on it. And they had put their snowplows away for the season."
The 21-member travel party was able to book flights home. The team made it home around midnight.
Despite not playing, the Tribe secured the No. 2 seed in the four-team conference tournament. W&M (3-1) will play No. 3 Delaware (3-2), the tournament host, Thursday at 4 p.m. No. 1 James Madison (5-0) will face No. 4 Drexel (3-3) at noon.
