The No. 21 Iowa women’s gymnastics team topped No. 23 Washington 196.400-196.250 Friday evening. The GymHawks opened the season at Xtream Arena in Coralville. 

Second-year Karina Muñoz and Fourth-year Adeline Kenlin helped power the Hawkeyes to an event sweep over the Huskies. 

Muñoz notched event high scores in both vault and bars with a 9.875.

Kenlin’s sweep on beam and floor fueled her event-high score of 39.575 in all-around. Hailing from Iowa City, Kenlin notched a 9.950 and 9.925 on beam and floor, respectively, and finished top-two in every event on Friday. 

Three GymHawks recorded career highs at Xtream Arena. Second-year duo Bailey Libby and Emily Erb both recorded a 9.875 on floor, while third-year Alexa Ebeling scored a 9.875 on vault.

First-years Eva Volpe and Alyse Karenbauer made their collegiate debuts for Iowa. Volpe was the only other GymHawk to compete in all four events and scored a 39.100 all-around. 

“This was one of those moments when you would have been okay to lose,” Iowa head coach Larissa Libby told Hawkeye Sports. “I say that because our teams were very comparable, and both teams did everything they possibly could. This is an excellent Washington team, and we are excited that we will represent this conference together beginning next season.”

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Iowa’s performance was powered by many new faces in the lineup.

“Everyone played a role tonight and owned those roles,” Libby said. “Our upperclassmen did the most incredible job keeping our freshmen pumped and on the right track. Everything about this night was amazing and gives a very young team a fantastic start to the season.”

Up next

Iowa will hit the road for the first time this season to take on the Minnesota Gophers on Monday at 7 p.m.