It doesn't get any easier for the No. 4 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team.

Another week, another Top-10 opponent, this time on the road as Alabama travels to Gainesville to take on the No. 5 ranked Florida Gators Friday at 7 p.m. EST. This will be the Tide's second trip to the Sunshine State this month, after opening the season at the Gator-hosted Super Six Challenge where Alabama finished third behind Georgia and Florida.

Since stumbling out of the blocks with four falls on its first event of the Super Six Challenge, Alabama has made marked improvement each week. In its second meet, the Tide posted the highest score in the nation that week beating then No. 9 Iowa State in the process. And last Friday, the Tide out scored a feisty LSU team, then ranked No. 8, again posting the week's highest score.

And while the last two weeks of the season have shown an ever improving Alabama team, head coach Sarah Patterson knows her charges aren't the only ones making strides.

"I'm very happy with the progress we've made since the first meet of the season," Patterson said. "I said before the Super Six Challenge that we weren't going to get any better until we had a meet and we've certainly showed that. Now we just have to keep it going, because nobody is standing still at this point in the season. Florida is much improved since the last time we saw them. This is another meet that will go down to the last rotation, the last few competitors."

The UA-LSU meet, broadcast on espn2 this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CST, went down to the last two competitors for each team with the Tide coming out on top 197.175-197.050. To win this weekend, Alabama will have to finish the Gators off on the balance beam.

"Last Friday was a great meet, the kind of down to the wire meet that will help us in the postseason, but we need to have the same kind of meet this weekend," Patterson said. "We need to display that kind of toughness down the stretch when we are finishing the meet on the balance beam."

Alabama has been led in the early going by the all-around trio of junior Ashley Miles, senior Shannon Hrozek and junior Dana Filetti. Miles, the SEC Gymnast of the Week the first two weeks of the season, scored a 10.0 on the vault against LSU. She is ranked No. 1 in the nation on the vault and shares the nation's top spot on the floor exercise with senior Alexis Brion. Brion's 9.975 on the floor exercise against LSU helped close the Tigers out. Freshman Terin Humphrey is currently competing on two events, the balance beam and the uneven bars. She is ranked No. 1 in the country on the beam after scoring a 9.95 against LSU.

Fans unable to travel to Gainesville, will be able to keep up with the Tide online at rolltide.com with online scoring and commentary or on the radio at WVUA-FM in Tuscaloosa. The radio broadcast can also be heard on-line, go to rolltide.com for the audio link.

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