Natalie Martin took a deep breath before racing down the Xfinity Center floor. The freshman, in her first collegiate gymnastics meet, launched herself onto the vault table, twisting in the air before planting her feet with a slight bobble.

Martin was rewarded with a tally of 9.850 — the highest vault score of any gymnast on Friday.

The strong performance from one of Maryland’s newest gymnasts propelled No. 25 Maryland gymnastics to a season opening win against West Chester, 196.150-193.775.

“I’m really impressed with this team … they’ve trained so hard in the preseason,” coach Brett Nelligan said. “For myself and the coaching staff, like, we think they look really good, but you never know till you get out here.”

Maryland began strong on vault, the Terps’ third-best rotation of the four a season ago. Coach Brett Nelligan’s squad ended last year ranked 26th nationally on vault.

After an opening 9.525 from sophomore Taylor Rech, the next five Terps in the rotation all posted scores of 9.700 or better. Martin headlined Maryland’s group with a score of 9.850 in her first vault as a Terp, and Emma Silberman added a 9.800 to round out a 48.900 total score through the first rotation.

[Maryland gymnastics’ season ends with fourth-place finish at NCAA Regionals]

After an opening 9.525 from sophomore Taylor Rech, the next five Terps in the rotation all posted scores of 9.700 or better. Martin headlined Maryland’s group with a score of 9.850 in her first vault as a Terp, and Emma Silberman added a 9.800 to round out a 48.900 total score through the first rotation.

Maryland found more success on bars. Victoria Gatzendorfer and Sierra Kondo both achieved scores of 9.750 after a 9.800 from Tasha Brozowski.

But Silberman, the Terps’ all-around gymnast, fell out of her turns on the uneven bars twice, scoring just a 9.000. The low score dropped Maryland’s total score on uneven bars to 48.600, the lowest of any rotation during the meet for Maryland.

“On bars, I just cast it over, which is more of, in our heads when we talk about it as a team, it’s more of an aggression mistake,” Silberman said. “I went for it.”

The Terps’ third rotation was the beam, where Martin shined once more in her collegiate debut and scored a 9.850.

“This was her coming out party,” Nelligan said of Martin’s performance. “She proved she’s ready for the spotlight … this is just the starting point for her.”

[Maryland gymnastics finishes ninth in Big Ten Championships with a 195.900]

But Maryland was led on the beam by Josephine Kogler. The junior equaled her personal best on the beam from last season with a 9.925, leading the Terps through the third rotation.

Gatzendorfer also matched her career-high on that apparatus with a 9.875, the same score she scored in 2022. Silberman rebounded after a low score on the uneven bars with a 9.775 on beam, and Olivia Weir flipped her way off the beam to a 9.800.

“I was like, ‘You know what, I don’t want to just hold back. I want to go after it,’” Silberman said about her final two rotations. “That’s what I feel like I did on beam and floor.”

Maryland continued to outpace West Chester with a 49.225 on the beam and led 146.775 to 144.875 heading into its final rotation.

The Terps’ fourth and final rotation was the floor. Maryland excelled on this rotation a season ago, ranking in the top-20 nationally on floor exercises.

Rech began the rotation with a 9.850, setting a precedent for the five Terps to follow. Alexis Rothenbuescher scored a meet-high 9.925 on floor, and all six gymnasts scored above a 9.800 on the apparatus.

The superb floor exercise performance earned a rotation score of 49.375 and helped Maryland record its best season-opening total score since 2020, when the Terps also scored a 196.150.

“We talked about at home, you’ve got to close strong, like you’ve got to finish on that last event. So that’s something we put emphasis on all preseason,” Nelligan said. “They did that perfectly and hopefully at home we can be a really tough team to beat.”