It was a night for two firsts Friday in Athens, Ga., for the No. 8 Cyclone gymnastics squad — the first time it has come up against national powerhouse No. 2 Georgia and the first time it has suffered a loss all season, falling to the Gym Dogs 197.400-196.625.

“Georgia is a great team with a lot of great traditions — they had almost 9,000 fans,” head coach K.J. Kindler said.

“We really had to be near flawless to pull out a win. We were ready to do that when they made their mistakes, but we couldn’t capitalize on it.”

Kindler said the Cyclones came out on pace, performing well on each event until the final rotation, when the Cyclones moved to beam.

Some small mistakes, two falls from the beam and several breaks in confidence prevented the team from capitalizing on the opportunity presented by the Gym Dogs, who counted three falls on the floor exercise.

“It was a huge opportunity when they opened the door there,” Kindler said. “You don’t expect to see a team of that level make count three falls on floor.”

The highlight of the evening for the Cyclones came when freshman Katie Lasher hit her season-best bar routine, scoring a 9.90 in response to a Georgia 10.00 on vault.

“Katie really stood out when the crowd was crazy,” Kindler said.

Kindler said the meet will really help the Cyclones prepare for the upcoming postseason.

“Especially in the postseason, we need to not let [the pressure] affect us,” Kindler said.

Senior Chee Chee Calina said Friday was a great opportunity for the Cyclones to compete against such a strong team, one similar to the teams Iowa State will face in regional and national competition.

“We learned a lot about ourselves and how we compete,” Calina said.

Sophomores Laura-Kay Powell and Erin Dethloff took second and third, respectively, in the all-around competition (39.475 and 39.450), while Dethloff matched a career high 9.95 on floor to tie for third place on the event.

Kindler said the team should expect a slight drop in their national ranking after the performance.

“We see scores start to fly this time of year,” Kindler said. She said teams start hitting bigger and bigger scores trying to qualify for regionals.

Though the Cyclones have already qualified for the regionals, Kindler said the Cyclones need two more solid performances this season to help ensure a No. 1 or No. 2 seed at regionals.

“We need to go into regionals as the one or two seed, and then come out that way and glide on to nationals,” she said.

Iowa State next hosts Iowa in a meet Friday at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones defeated the Hawkeyes 196.950 to 196.725 on Jan. 17, in Iowa City.