An injured Gym Dogs squad had a tough opening weekend on the road, dropping a close decision to third-ranked Utah Friday before eking out a win over Stanford on Sunday.

Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan said earlier in the week that her Gym Dogs were about a month behind where they should be due to six offseason surgeries and other injuries earlier in the week. Her prognostication proved to be true Friday.

Top-ranked Georgia fell just a tenth of a point shy of victory in Salt Lake City, where they claimed their third consecutive national championship last season, leading for most of the meet before falls on the beam by juniors Courtney Kupets and Tiffany Tolnay in the final rotation meant that the Gym Dogs had to count a fall and would lose the contest 196.300-196.200.

The loss marked the first time that the Gym Dogs have lost their season-opening meet in four years, when they finished third in the season-opening Super Six Challenge in 2004.

Two-time All-Around Champion Courtney Kupets led all competitors with a 9.950 on the uneven bars, while she and senior Katie Heenan each charted a meet-leading 9.875 on the vault.

Sophomore Courtney McCool led on the floor with a score of 9.9.

With no time for a breather in between, Sunday’s meet against a Stanford team that Yoculan called historically slow-starting ended positively for Gym Dogs, as they claimed a 196.875-196.150 victory over the Cardinal.

Despite being on the short end of small deficits on the vault and beam, Georgia was more than able to make up for the deficit with demanding victories on the bars (49.225-48.700) and floor exercise (49.300-49.025) to earn its first victory of the season in Palo Alto.

The road to a fourth consecutive national title doesn’t look to get any easier for the defending champion Gym Dogs, as they hit the road again for a meet with powerhouse Florida in Gainesville on Friday.

The Gym Dogs’ first home meet comes the following Saturday against SEC foe LSU.