Rotation set for NCAA regional

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas’ rotation has already been determined for Saturday’s NCAA West Regional at No. 3 UCLA.

The regional is Saturday at 8 p.m. (central) in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Arkansas is the second seed in the regional behind UCLA. Other teams in the field are No. 17 Iowa State, No. 21 Arizona, No. 26 Brigham Young and No. 32 Arizona State.

The No. 9 Razorbacks open on floor, followed by vault, bye, bars, beam and bye.

"We’ve been practicing floor first every day we can," co-head coach René Cook says. "We’ve also simulated the byes and gone back to the locker room and come back out to prepare for as many of the known qualities as we can. The girls are confident. They know what to expect."

Arkansas had this year’s rotation of floor, vault, bye, bars, beam and bye in regionals in 2004 and 2005. The Razorbacks finished fourth each time, in the second and third year, respectively, of the program’s existence. Arkansas’ first event was floor two other times, in 2006 and 2007, after opening with a bye. Those years, the rotation was bye, floor, vault, bye, bars and beam. The Razorbacks were second in 2006 in Fayetteville to advance to the NCAA Championship for the first time in programhistory and third in 2007 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The Razorbacks are coming off an open weekend, which has meant a little extra rest.

"We took advantage by taking a few days off," Cook says. "We got refreshed."

The Razorbacks are in an NCAA regional for the seventh time in the program’s eight years. Arkansas has advanced to the NCAA Championship three times, including each of the last two years. Last season, Arkansas advanced to the NCAA Super Six for the first time and finished fifth in the nation.