MEET RESULTS
AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific overcame a slow start in its second acrobatics and tumbling meet of the season to post the second-best team event score in program history and hand the second-year program from Hawai?i Pacific University a 4.83-point defeat Tuesday night at the Felix Event Center.
Just 35-hundredths of a point separated the teams after five of the six events, but the Cougars responded with a brilliant team event performance for 104.11 points on their home mat, while Hawai?i Pacific registered 99.63 points in the team event to come up short in its upset bid. Azusa Pacific lost each of the first three events and headed into halftime facing a 1.40-point deficit to the Sharks (97.00 to 95.60).
The Cougars started their comeback at the beginning the second half with a slight edge in the toss event. Azusa Pacific picked up 15-hundredths of a point in the event, and the Cougars completely erased the HPU lead by executing a higher degree of difficulty in tumbling to turn a 1.25-point deficit into a narrow 0.35-point edge heading into the team event.
"We had some confidence in our tumbling, and the passes we put out tonight were stronger than our first meet," Azusa Pacific head coach Colleen Kausrud said. "I think that some of the injuries we've sustained the last two weeks had us rattled a little bit early in the meet until the team realized that we have the depth to continue to execute."
With a starting team event difficulty less than a point greater than HPU's, Azusa Pacific's chances at victory hinged on its execution in the team event. With a nearly-flawless performance, the Cougars were docked just 3.45 points from their team event starting value of 107.56, creating plenty of cushion over Hawai?i Pacific, which tallied 99.63 points out of a starting value of 106.78.
"We were able to increase our standing tumbling and decrease our running tumbling while keeping the same start value, and that also helped with the team's confidence," Kausrud said.
The only better team event score Azusa Pacific has ever posted was 104.92 points in an April 2, 2012 win at Quinnipiac. In that meet, the Cougars entered the team event trailing by six-hundredths of a point, and the program-record team event provided just enough cushion for the closest win (16-hundredths of a point) in Azusa Pacific's program history.
Hawai?i Pacific led from the opening heat of compulsories, and the Sharks won two of three heats in both the acro and pyramid events although Azusa Pacific's twisting pyramid featuring top Jhymai Stevenson with Ashleigh Pitts, Falynn Martinez, Jamie Montgomery, Danielle Handy, and Heather DiSpaltro scored a perfect-10. It was the second 10-point effort of the season for the Cougars, who registered the first in the compulsory pyramid head in the Feb. 4 season opener.
Led by freshman Sarah DiSpaltro's 9.775-point effort in the six-element tumbling pass, Azusa Pacific won five of the six tumbling heats to finally overtake the Sharks in the total meet scoring. Montgomery scored a 9.75 in her open tumbling pass, and junior Ahnaliese Spitzer tallied 9.725 points in the aerial tumbling pass to put the Cougars in front by the time the tumbling event concluded.
"Hawai?i Pacific really held their own today, and with our schedule, we can't afford to take any opponent lightly," said Kausrud, whose squad hosts Baylor on March 9 before making return trips to both Oregon and Baylor later in March. "I wouldn't mind splitting up the season by going on the road between home meets, but we're happy anytime we compete here because it definitely helps to have our crowd behind us."
With the win, Azusa Pacific evens its season record at 1-1, while Hawai?i Pacific falls to 0-1 on the year.
