AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific posted its highest score (282.075) in a season-opening meet in its entire eight-year history as a National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association founding program, winning 16 of 20 heats to run away with a double-digit victory over NCAA Division II rival Hawai'i Pacific, which scored 270.670 points Tuesday night at the Felix Event Center.
The Cougars won eight of 10 heats in each half, steadily compiling a 1.55-point halftime lead before gaining another couple of points of separation in the tumbling event. Another seven-point margin in the team event extended Azusa Pacific's winning margin to more than 11 points.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 3-5 all-time in season openers, and including last year's NCATA quarterfinal victory, the Cougars have won back-to-back matchups with HPU.
What It Means: Azusa Pacific gains a significant confidence boost as it heads into consecutive road trips. The Cougars scored nearly seven points (6.97) more than any team in program history in its season opener. The previous season-best team score was 275.105 in last year's opener against Hawai'i Pacific. Azusa Pacific is now 3-5 all-time in season openers.
Top Performances: The Cougars produced eight heat scores of 9.80 better (out of 10 possible points in each heat), led by the solo tumbling passes from Heather Hovander and Hannah Steffen which scored 9.850 points each. The synchronized pyramid which includes the same two athletes along with eight of their teammates scored a 9.90, and Azusa Pacific also posted scores of 9.85 in the compulsory pyramid and compulsory acro heats.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific's next two meets are on the road, starting with a visit next week to Concordia University Wisconsin, which is now in its fourth year of NCATA competition. After visiting CUW on Monday, Feb. 12, the Cougars face a rematch with Hawai'i Pacific in Honolulu on March 2.
Quotable: "I think the team had a little doubt in what they were doing a couple of weeks ago after a team event exhibition performance, but it was important to just take one thing at a time and go through the whole meet with that approach. We've been doing some mock meets in practice and I think that gave the team some confidence, and the team event we put together did as well as we could to wrap this up the best I can remember in a season opener. Now we want to build up our start values in the next few meets, but we won't build it up if it jeopardizes a clean team event." – Azusa Pacific head coach Colleen Kausrud
