The No. 6 Georgia gymnastics team upset No. 3 Arkansas by a little less than a point Friday night in Athens.

The Gym Dogs (4-2, 3-1 SEC) defeated the Razorbacks (9-3, 3-2 SEC) 196.825-195.875.

The team was happy with the win but not satisfied and still in search of improvements.

Senior Gym Dog Kat Ding posted a 9.8 on the vault and a career-high 39.550 in the all-around to help No. 6 Georgia defeat No. 3 Arkansas on Friday night in Stegeman Coliseum. ALLISON LOVE/Staff

“When everybody puts everything out on the line, that’s when you can say you did your best and you beat the best team,” senior Kat Ding said. “But when everybody’s having a so-so day, and you beat them, it’s not really a success.”

The meet wasn’t as close as many expected it to be, but the Gym Dogs still prepared for any situation that would come their way.

“We’re pretty evenly-matched teams,” Ding said. “If all went well, it would have been a tight meet the whole time, and we were prepared for that.”

The competition seemed to get off on the right foot for Georgia as it posted a 49.275 to start the night off on vault, led by Ding’s 9.9.

And putting the pressure on their opponent early is something that the Gym Dogs pride themselves on.

“We do so well when we apply pressure,” Ding said. “It’s a great… jump start as we move on to our other events.”

However, the momentum began to slow as the Gym Dogs moved to bars, where junior Shayla Worley faltered on her double layout dismount.

“I think everyone was just tight tonight,” Ding said. “We had great landings but handstands, handstands, handstands.”

And although Georgia stuck five out of their six dismounts, it only managed to score a 49.175 for the effort.

“We went over there [on bars] and stuck five dismounts and put a clinic on,” Georgia head coach Jay Clark said. “But of course there were some things that were not perfect about the routines as well.”

Although there was the mistake from Worley, Clark didn’t worry that his team wouldn’t be able to pick up the slack.

“This team has shown the ability to do that,” Clark said. “I’m tired of having to do that, but I think that they’ve shown the gut to be able to right the ship when they have something like that happen.”

Ding came through at the end of the line-up to “right the ship” with a 9.95 to cap off the rotation for Georgia.

It seemed like the Gym Dogs were starting to regain their momentum at that point, but things began to slow down again when freshman Chelsea Davis fell twice during her beam set.

Davis’ teammates had her back, though, and followed the 8.65 routine with a 9.8 from fellow freshman Sarah Persinger and a 9.9 from Worley.

Georgia then moved to the event that had become their nemesis so far this season.

And they showed that past mistakes didn’t faze them as they posted their third-highest floor score of the season thus far, capped off by junior Noel Couch’s 9.875.

The floor rotation was also highlighted by Ding’s first appearance in the lineup this year.

The senior finished off a solid competition by scoring a 9.85 on the event as well as securing her first all around win in her first attempt this season with a score of 39.550.

“It’s been four years in the making so it’s like finally. Like a hurrah,” Ding said. “I feel good about it, but it wasn’t my best floor routine. I have to start somewhere and that’s a good place to start. You can only build up from there, so I’ll just continue to work in the gym and continue to earn my spot in the lineup and go form there.”

Although he doesn’t think about the all around much, Clark was still proud of Ding’s effort.

“She’s been wanting to [compete all four events] for a long time,” Clark said. “I had every bit of confidence that she would be able to step in on floor tonight. I’m proud of the fact that she put herself in a position where she can help her team on all four events.”

It wasn’t a perfect meet by any measure, but the Gym Dogs know that it will give them something to work towards as they head into their meet against Kentucky next Saturday.

“We push for perfection, we expect perfection, we strive for perfection, but we don’t require it,” Clark said. “That’s a little subtlety that I think our team understands pretty well.”