The Kent State gymnastics team looks to maintain its undefeated Mid-American Conference record as it heads to Bowling Green on Sunday.

The Flashes are coming off a 193.950-192.550 victory against Northern Illinois, a win that raised their record to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the MAC.

While the margin of victory was the Flashes’ slimmest yet in MAC play, coach Brice Biggin sees that as a good thing.

“As you get to the better opposition at the end of the season, you need to be able to focus in situations like that,” he said. “It was nice to see the girls rise to the occasion.

“We’re not always going to be out in front comfortably. We’ll have close meets and meets where we’ll be behind.”

Bowling Green comes into the meet with a 3-2 record, all in MAC games. The Falcons are coming off their highest-scoring meet of the season, and Biggin said they are a dangerous team.

“If you give them an opportunity by faltering, they have everything to gain,” Biggin said. “It’s a great opportunity for them to knock us off, so we can’t have a letdown.”

This weekend’s meet will be the fourth-consecutive away meet for the Flashes. While Biggin acknowledged the stretch has been “difficult,” he said the team is in good enough condition to play well on the road.

“It becomes a grind to be away for so long, but the girls worked hard before and during the season to be in good physical shape, and that helps us in periods like this,” he said. “The girls take pride in being in good physical shape and able to perform on the road.”

Biggin said he hopes the team will continue to gain confidence and improve upon some of the more minute aspects of the game.

“It’s not always the big things that can hurt you,” he said. “It can be little things, like sticking your landing that can take off points, so we have to keep focusing on those things.”

Biggin said he wants to get more than another MAC victory Sunday; he is hoping to add a high road score to the team’s r‚sum‚.

“To qualify for NCAA Regionals, you have to have three big away scores,” he said. “We’d like to score in the mid-194 to 195 range, which we’re capable of when we’re at our best.”

Contact gymnastics reporter Doug Gulasy at [email protected].