How do you replace the queen?
9.9 is a good place to start.
Auburn gymnast Olivia Hollingsworth shined at Auburn’s season-opening meet in Las Vegas on Saturday night, finishing as Auburn’s top all-around scorer and in a tie for fourth in the all-around at the session.
She fixed the floor in the cleaning space long held by late star Derrianne Gobourne — which earned her “Queen” moniker as one of the show’s best of all time.
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Hollingsworth has held her own in those shoes, scoring 9,900 on the floor.
She later reached a career high of 9900 on bars.
Auburn’s team scored 196.600 points at the Super 16 exhibition meet, finishing third in the session with a score higher than UCLA and lower than Alabama and Cal.
Hollingsworth finished her night with a 39.450 in the all around, and also added a 9.800 on vault and a 9.850 on beam.
“It’s amazing to me how far I’ve come,” Auburn coach Jeff Grappa said on the Super 16 broadcast after the game. “She got injured her freshman year and we thought she was going to break into the all-around that year. Man, she worked her hardest for this and she deserves it. It was a tough meet.”
Hollingsworth was one of three players competing at the Auburn meet, along with fifth-year senior Cassie Stevens and junior Sophia Groth.
Although they are all veteran returnees, on Saturday all three were thrust into new leadership roles and assigned to new positions in the lineup at times – with Hollingsworth taking over that anchor spot for which Goburn is known.
“Our veterans have stepped up, and even though they were in new roles this year, we felt like they did a great job of calming everyone down and getting the ship back on track,” Grappa said.
While Stevens and Groth draw a lot of attention from fans and press, and Goburn did the same in previous seasons alongside late star Sonny Lee, Hollingsworth has emerged as a reliable all-around player for Auburn in 2023 after competing on the beam only in Year 2022.
However, Saturday marked the first meet of her career as Hollingsworth achieved a 9.900 in two events.
Auburn next competes in its home opener on Friday against Kentucky at Neville Arena.
Auburn entered the season ranked No. 17 in the WCGA preseason coaches poll while Kentucky was ranked ninth. Kentucky scored 196,775 points in Las Vegas on Friday.
Friday’s match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and the match is scheduled to be broadcast on the SEC Network.