EUGENE, Ore. -- Azusa Pacific lost its final road trip of the 2017 acrobatics and tumbling season to the University of Oregon by a 10.8-point margin (288.075-277.280) Saturday night at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.
The Cougars fell behind by a 1.5-point margin in the opening event of the meet, and Oregon added to its lead throughout each of the remaining five events to pull away for the victory.
With the loss, Azusa Pacific falls to 2-3 heading into its regular-season finale against Baylor on Tuesday, April 11. Oregon finishes the regular season with a 6-1 record, which it will take to the 2017 National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) National Championships, which will be hosted by Azusa Pacific the final week of April.
After scoring below its season average in three of four heats in the compulsory event and two of three heats in the acro event, Azusa Pacific put together a string of seven consecutive heats scoring over its season average to keep the Ducks' lead from expanding further. That run spanned all three heats of the pyramid event, all three heats of the toss event, and the duo tumbling pass which kicked off the tumbling event.
However, Oregon's depth in tumbling eventually separated the teams by another two-plus points, giving the Ducks a five-point lead heading into the team event. Azusa Pacific's team event score of 98.03 was its third-highest of the season, but Oregon posted 103.75 points to win going away.
All three of Azusa Pacific's solo tumbling passes scored between 9.675 and 9.775 points, led by Ashleigh Pitts (9.775 open tumbling) and Heather Hovander (9.700 aerial tumbling), and Courtney Moser's score of 9.675 in the 6-element tumbling heat tied for the team's second-best score in the 6-element heat this season.
In all, the Cougars posted eight heats with a score of 9.70 or better, including a near-perfect score of 9.95 in the open pyramid heat which featured Pitts, Hannah Steffen, Kimi Yee, Kara Ingersoll, Lauren Chappell, and Noelle Miranda. All six were also part of the second-best score of the night, a 9.80 in the compulsory pyramid.
