WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior gymnast Monica Bisordi performs her balance beam routine during the Gymcats' matchup with Washington at McKale Center on Friday night.

The Arizona gymnastics team notched the second-best performance in school history Friday night.

Its reward? The elation of kissing one's sister.

"It's the first tie that I can ever remember being involved in, in my 14 years," said UA head coach Bill Ryden.

Both the No. 15 Gymcats (6-2-1, 2-2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) and No. 16 Washington Huskies (6-3-1, 2-2-1) posted an overall score of 197.300 in front of 846 fans in McKale Center. Arizona's score was its best of the season and .075 short of the school record, set March 14 against Oklahoma.

"It's amazing that you can tie when you're down to quarters of a point and a maximum of 200 (points)," Ryden said. "But the score definitely helps us, and we'll definitely learn from it."

Junior Gymcat Monica Bisordi was her usual dominant self, leading Arizona in three of four events: bars (9.900), beam (9.875) and floor (9.950).

"She can be at that level every single week," Ryden said. "For her, that's a walk in the park."

"I do still have some improving to do," Bisordi said.

The reigning Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week, Bisordi led Arizona in the all-around and finished second overall with a 39.625 showing.

Senior Andi Mc Cabe led the Gymcats on vault with a 9.925. Her 9.900 floor score matched her career high.

"We all accomplished what we wanted to accomplish," Mc Cabe said. "We got a high score and that's all that matters when it comes to our standings."

Freshman Aubrey Taylor finished with an all-around of 39.350. She set a career high on bars with a 9.850 and matched a career high with a 9.850 on floor.

"That's pretty cool," said Taylor with a laugh. "It feels pretty good."

Taylor wasn't disappointed that her team's near-record-breaking effort didn't result in a win.

"It's actually exciting, because it's our highest score of the year so far," she said. "We worked really hard and it's just awesome to come out and score over 197."

"We'd rather walk away with a tie than a loss any day, but I think we

really went out and gave 100 percent, and proved that we were just as strong as they are," Bisordi said.

Arizona was better than the Huskies on vault (49.425-49.125) and floor (49.500-49.350), while Washington bested the Gymcats on bars (49.375-49.300) and beam (49.450-49.075).

"We're really trying to work out the kinks on beam," Ryden said. "It's the third week in a row that it's been our low event."

The Gymcats are in Denton, Texas, to face Texas Women's University and Louisiana State tonight at 7.