Kicking off the regional in Berkeley is the defacto play-in round, featuring two closely ranked teams in No. 33 Southern Utah and No. 35 San Jose State. The Thunderbirds got a helpful draw in being the higher-ranked team in the matchup, but despite the lower NQS ranking the Spartans aren’t much of an underdog with the higher average score on the season.
After being the first team out of the regionals selections a year ago, San Jose State is guaranteed to improve upon its finish this year with legitimate chances of making the second round, too. The Spartans are loaded with upperclassmen talent, as Lauren Macpherson, Jada Mazury, Katherine Weyhmiller—their individual qualifiers should they not advance—and Jaudi Lopes contribute most of their routines. Beam and floor are where San Jose State excels and ranks inside the top 30, with the difference maker likely bars where the Spartans have solid routines but are mildly inconsistent.
Southern Utah enters today off a strong conference championship weekend where it won the MPSF title. In contrast to the Spartans’ upperclassmen, the Thunderbirds have some standout rookies as freshmen Niya Randolph and Brinlee Christensen have lived up to their former four and three-star recruit ratings. Both have been a factor in Southern…
