MEET RESULTS
AZUSA, Calif. -- Baylor improved to 4-0 in 2015, winning five of six events against No. 3-ranked Azusa Pacific to post a seven-point victory (283.720 to 276.380) which solidified the No. 2-ranked Bears' in the top-two of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association rankings.
With the win, Baylor remains perfect with a 4-0 record and pulls even at 4-4 in the all-time series between two of the five active founding NCATA programs. In the Bears' first four seasons of NCATA competition, they were 10-20 and alternated between seasons with overall records of 2-5 and 3-5. Under new head coach Felecia Mulkey, who led Oregon to all four of its NCATA titles before taking over at Baylor this year, Monday's victory surpassed the program's single-season wins record as Baylor heads into a crucial road matchup at the four-time defending NCATA national champion University of Oregon later this week.
After Baylor won the first two events by winning or tying all seven heats, Azusa Pacific regained 15-hundredths of a point in the pyramid event by posting two heat scores of 9.90 along with a 9.80 in the third and final pyramid heat (release). That gave the Bears a 1.55-point halftime edge heading into a second half which Baylor began with a start value 2.72 points higher than the Cougars' start values.
Azusa Pacific regressed from its last performance in all three second-half events, surrendering another half-point edge in the toss event and conceding more than a full point in tumbling as the Bears closed out tumbling with heat scores of 9.80, 9.90, and 9.70. Baylor outscored the Cougars in all 10 scored activities in the second half.
"We need to clean up some of the things in acro and pyramid that we had some confidence in, because we made some mistakes that we shouldn't be making in those areas," Azusa Pacific head coach Colleen Kausrud said. "We brought up our start values in tumbling, and our start value in the team event was higher as a result of the tumbling we added. Now we just need to execute it and get everybody on the same page."
The Cougars' twisting pyramid heat followed its previous perfect-10 effort with a score of 9.90, maintaining its season average at 9.90 through the first three meets of the season. Azusa Pacific's compulsory toss heat also scored 9.90 for the second consecutive meet, and junior Ahnaliese Spitzer registered the Cougars' best tumbling score by notching 9.750 in the six-element solo tumbling pass. Freshman Sarah DiSpaltro scored 9.700 in her first attempt this season at the aerial solo tumbling pass.
Azusa Pacific seniors Asia Desamito, Heather DiSpaltro, Falynn Martinez, and Katelynn McDougall were recognized in Senior Night ceremonies prior to the meet.
"This group of seniors will continue to support this program after they move on from competition, and that's something I really appreciate about them," Kausrud said. "They're great leaders when it comes to competition, and they do a good job rallying the team together and getting them ready to compete."
The defeat drops Azusa Pacific to 1-2 heading into next week's visit to Oregon, which is followed by the return trip to Waco, Texas, for a second matchup with Baylor on March 28.
