How to Watch: Livvy Dunne, No. 3 LSU Gymnastics in Top-10 Matchup Against Missouri

Dunne and Co. return to the PMAC on Friday night, take on No. 9 Missouri in an anticipated Top-10 battle.

Courtesy of LSU Gymnastics.

BATON ROUGE– The No. 3 LSU Gymnastics team (4-2, 1-1 SEC) will host No. 9 Missouri (6-2, 1-1 SEC) for a top 10 matchup inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday, January 31st at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

“We always talk about what happens next is most important and that’s our focus this week,” said head coach Jay Clark. “Missouri is the next five minutes in front of our face and they are a great team. They’re coming off a good SEC home win and we know that they’re going to come here and be competitive, so we’re just going to look to take our next best step forward this week.”

Friday’s battle of the Tigers will be broadcast nationally with John Roethlisberger and Anastasia Webb on call and Taylor Davis serving as the on-site reporter.

LSU owns the all-time 49-10-0 record over Missouri and are undefeated at home against the visiting Tigers with a record of 17-0-0. The last time the two teams faced off was in 2024, when LSU fell on the road to Missouri in Columbia. 

Last Time On The Floor

No. 2 LSU fell to No. 14 Arkansas by a score of 196.875-196.600 in their last meet in Fayetteville. The Tigers claimed event titles in three events on the night; freshman Kailin Chio won vault with a 9.95, sophomore Konnor McClain took the bars title with a 9.925 and senior Aleah Finnegan was the beam winner with a 9.925. The all around title went to Arkansas’ Joscelyn Roberson, who tallied a 39.350 across four events.

Freshman Lexi Zeiss led off the night for the Tigers on bars with a season-high 9.85, followed by junior Ashley Cowan’s 9.875 in the second spot. Next, senior Alexis Jeffrey scored a 9.875 of her own ahead of freshman Kailin Chio’s 9.725 routine in the fourth spot. The fifth spot saw senior Aleah Finnegan score a 9.85 before sophomore Konnor McClain anchored the Tigers with a stellar 9.925 routine to round out LSU’s first rotation score to 49.375.

The first rotation came to a close as the visiting Tigers led by a score of 49.375-49.250 over the Razorbacks.

Vault was the second rotation of the night for the Tigers and opened with Zeiss scoring a 9.80 in the leadoff spot. Senior Chase Brock hit a season-high 9.90 in the second spot ahead of Finnegan’s 9.75 in spot three. Freshman Kaliya Lincoln hit a career-high 9.85 in the fourth spot and was followed up by sophomore Amari Drayton, who posted a 9.85 of her own. In the anchor spot, Chio matched her career-high on vault with a 9.95 to give the Tigers a 49.350 team score in the second rotation.

Chio matched her career-high on vault, putting up a team high 9.950 for the Tigers in the anchor spot. The win was her fourth title of the year and second on vault. LSU led by a margin of 98.725-98.500 at the halfway point in Fayetteville.

Brock also put up one of her strongest vault’s yet to help lift the Tigers in the second rotation, finishing with the second highest score on the night.

The Tigers hit the floor for the third rotation of the night and were led off by senior Olivia Dunne, who scored a 9.70. Brock posted a 9.825 in the second spot before Drayton followed it up with a 9.875. The fourth spot saw Chio post a 9.100 score, followed by a 9.575 by Finnegan. Senior Haleigh Bryant finished strong with a 9.875 in the anchor spot to help lift the score to a 48.850 for the Tigers.

McClain continues to be a solid anchor for LSU on bars, taking home the title on the event the last two weeks straight. She claimed her second bars title of the year, now owning fourth on the event and 11 titles in her career.

The Tigers held a 147.575-147.350 lead heading into the final rotation of the night.

The final rotation of the night took the Tigers to the beam. Senior Sierra Ballard opened the rotation with a 9.80 before sophomore Kylie Coen scored a 9.650 in the second spot. The third spot saw Chio post a 9.85, followed by a 9.575 from McClain. The Tigers finished with two strong routines as Bryant scored a 9.800 in the fifth spot and Finnegan anchored with a 9.925 to bring the team’s score in the rotation to a 49.025.

After stepping out of bounds on floor, Finnegan went lights out on beam to finish the meet strong. The senior posted a 9.925 in the anchor spot to take home her second beam title and 10th title this year. She moved her career total to 33 titles with nine of those coming from beam.

The Razorbacks finished their final rotation with a 49.525, which meant the home team overtook the visitors to claim the meet win by a margin of 196.875-196.600.

Four Tigers also participated in exhibition passes in Fayetteville. Senior Tori Tatum appeared on bars, freshman Victoria Roberts on vault, sophomore Leah Miller performed her floor routine and Zeiss concluded the night with an exhibition on beam.

The Opponent

Missouri is coming off a top 15 win over No. 6 Kentucky last Friday with a season high score of 197.200 over the Wildcats. The victory was their first SEC win of the year.

The visiting Tigers rank amongst the top 15 teams in the country on every event, including a team average of 196.694, placing them ninth in this week’s standings. Missouri currently ranks fourteenth in the country on vault and beam, ninth on bars and fifth on floor.

Missouri is 6-2 through the first four weeks of regular season competition and 0-2 on the road as the LSU Tigers will look to protect their home record.

Week Four Road To Nationals Rankings

The Tigers sit at No. 3 in this week’s Road to Nationals rankings. The squad enters week five with an average of 197.275 and a season high score of 197.650 coming in their second meet of the year at the Sprouts Collegiate Quad. They sit in third behind No. 2 Florida with their average of 197.417 and the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners with their 197.706.

No. 3 LSU ranks in the top 10 on every event for the fourth consecutive week of regular season competition – second on vault, third on bars, seventh on beam and fourth on floor.

The Tigers share the second highest vault score in the country (49.450) and third highest floor score (49.525). The squad owns averages of 49.375 on vault, 49.344 on bars, 49.244 on beam and 49.313 on floor.

Senior Aleah Finnegan continues to lead the Tigers in the all-around, placing as one of the top 10 gymnasts in the nation for the fourth consecutive week. She enters this week ranked No. 9 with an average of 39.487. 

Key Returners in 2025

This year’s squad consists of 21 gymnasts and 15 returners: 10 seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen. 

Haleigh Bryant, Olivia Dunne, Sierra Ballard, Chase Brock and Alyona Shchennikova all returned for their final seasons with the Tigers in 2025. Bryant, Dunne, Ballard and Brock are in their fifth-year season while Shchennikova is in her sixth-year.

Shchennikova is back this year after missing the 2024 season due to injury. She is an All-American on the uneven bars and will return veteran routines to the all-around. The Evergreen, Colorado native owns career high’s of 9.950 on vault and bars, 9.925 on beam, 9.975 on floor and 39.525 in the all-around.

Bryant, the 2024 NCAA All-Around Champion, AAI Award Winner and SEC Gymnast of the Year, is in her final season with the Tigers in 2025 after a historic senior season last year. She owns the program record all-around score (39.925) and career high’s of 10.00 across all four events, including the most perfect 10’s by any LSU gymnast (18).

A Louisiana native, Ballard is a veteran to the beam and floor lineup, where she owns career high’s of 9.950 and 9.925.

Dunne, a native of Hillsdale, New Jersey, played a vital role to the bars and floor lineups for LSU last season as she returned ready to go on three events. She owns career highs of 9.925 on bars and 9.900 on floor. Brock is a mainstay in the vault and floor lineups for the Tigers in her final season, where she owns career high’s of 9.975 and 9.925.

Other key returners for the 2025 season include Aleah Finnegan, KJ Johnson, Tori Tatum, Alexis Jeffrey, Ashley Cowan, Konnor McClain and Amari Drayton.

Finnegan, the 2024 NCAA Floor Champion, has been pivotal in the all-around for the Tigers this year so far. The senior owns career highs of 10’s on vault, beam and floor, 9.925 on bars and a 39.800 in the all-around.

Johnson competed in every meet on vault for the Tigers during their national championship run in 2024 and in all but one meet on floor. In her senior season, she is a veteran on vault and floor for LSU, owning career highs of 9.950 on vault and 9.975 on floor.

Cowan, Tatum and Jeffrey are all mainstays in the bars lineup for the Tigers and all own a career high of 9.950 on the event. 

The duo of McClain and Drayton began their sophomore season after a prominent freshman year, where the two competed in every meet for the Tigers. McClain is currently impacting the bars and beam lineups, owning career highs of a perfect 10 on both events, while Drayton mainly competes on vault and floor for LSU. She owns career highs of 9.975 on vault and 9.925 on floor.

Kailin Chio, Kaliya Lincoln, Lexi Zeiss, Zoe Miller and Victoria Roberts make up this year’s freshman class.

More LSU News:

LSU Adds Commitments From Seven Top-100 Transfers in the Portal

LSU Dishes Out Offer to No. 1 Quarterback in America

Nick Saban Calls LSU Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier a "Sleeper" Ahead of 2024 Season

Join the Community:

Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.