The No. 3 Stanford women’s gymnastics team (10-2, 5-0 Pacific-10 Conference) edged out the No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners on Friday, in an extremely close competition in every event. In the end, the Cardinal came out with a victory, 196.475-196.175.

“Oklahoma is a great team, and they’re very well coached,” head coach Kristen Smyth said. “This was a tight meet all night, and we did fight enough to win, but we did not have our best work.”

The competition began with the vault, in which three gymnasts scored over a 9.85. Junior Tabitha Yim led the Cardinal with a 9.9. Two significant contributors on the vault, sophomore Heather Purnell and junior Liz Tricase, were out due to injury, but freshman Stephanie Carter filled in admirably, competing in a new vault this year, the Yurchenko full.

“We made big strides on vault with some great landings,” sophomore Kelly Fee said.

Bars came next, in which Fee led off the event for the Cardinal, posting a score of 9.85. Junior Lauren Elmore and sophomore Nicole Ourada kept the momentum going by scoring 9.8 and 9.7, respectively. But Stanford experienced a minor setback when junior Alex Pintchouk fell on her mount.

Freshman Carly Janiga followed up with a 9.875 in the event, and Yim finished bars strong for the Cardinal, hitting her routine and sticking her full-out dismount to score a 9.9.

“I think that the team, as a whole, really pulled together and showed great growth, especially after a rough bar rotation, which is something that we are not used to,” Carter said. “We didn’t let it get to us as we went into beam, and that showed in our performances.”

The competition remained close after the opening pair of events, and the Cardinal took a slight lead over the Sooners, 98.325-98.25.

Since the beam had proved problematic for Stanford in its meet at Nebraska two weeks ago, the event was a point of emphasis on Friday, and the Cardinal pulled through.

“Beam is always the make-or-break event, and Lauren Elmore started us off with a very solid routine, which is key,” Fee said.

While Fee showed major improvement from two weeks ago, scoring a 9.825, Yim’s third 9.9 of the night was the high score for the Cardinal in the event.

“We fought the whole time out there, but it wasn’t near our best work,” Janiga said. “Despite the tough judging, we are capable of scoring a few tenths higher here and there on certain events. These meets are really teaching us that it takes everyone’s 100 percent effort. We’ve seen that the judges aren’t going to give us anything, meaning we need to work that much harder.”

The Cardinal gymnasts finished the competition on the floor, where Stanford has performed inconsistently. Pintchouk started off strong with a 9.825 and freshman Blair Ryland, who has proven to be a very competitive gymnast on floor in her first season, followed up with a 9.8. Junior Stephanie Gentry had been out of the floor lineup for a few weeks and had one of her best routines, including a final tumbling pass off a double pike.

Fee had a clean routine, but had to fight a tough landing in her final double tuck dismount, while Janiga once again was unfazed by Fee’s setback and performed well, earning a 9.8.

After the floor excercise, the crowd at Burnham Pavilion sat in suspense as the scores were tallied. The cheering began when Stanford was announced the winner.

“Oklahoma was a great team,” Yim said. “It was a really good competition, head to head in most of the events.”

After the tight match, though, the Cardinal women realized there are many ways for them to improve.

“Tonight revealed that we have a lot to do,” Smyth said. “We had a lot of little mistakes and we need a lot of fine tuning before our final regular-season meet.”

The Cardinal next faces arch-rival UCLA on Mar. 25 at 2 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.

“UCLA is a tough team, and it is going to take everything this team has in order to win and stay undefeated in the [Pac-10],” Janiga said. “UCLA has a history, and judges are going to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

The team is building into the postseason, as Yim pointed out, and UCLA will prove a testing ground for Stanford as it looks to demonstrate its full potential.

“We want to prove that Stanford is the team to beat,” Fee said.

After facing the Bruins, the Cardinal will travel to Arizona for the Pac-10 Championships, and will then go on to the NCAA Regionals and Championships.