AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific used another strong finish to post its second consecutive come-from-behind win to remain unbeaten through its first four meets of the 2018 National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) season after edging Quinnipiac by 31-hundredths of a point Tuesday night at the Felix Event Center.
The Cougars scored a season-high 283.170 points, while Quinnipiac tallied 282.860 points just three nights after the Bobcats kicked off their West Coast road trip with the program's first-ever win against Oregon.
Quinnipiac built a lead of 1.65 points after winning three of the first four events, but Azusa Pacific stormed back by winning all six tumbling heats to slash the lead by 1.4 points and send the teams into the team event separated by just 25-hundredths of a point. The Bobcats put the pressure on by scoring over 100 points (100.56) out of a possible 106.86 points, but Azusa Pacific responded with its best score in the team event all year (101.12) to complete the comeback and rally for the victory.
The teams were separated by just four-tenths of a point in a back-and-forth first half after Quinnipiac posted narrow wins in the compulsory and acro events to start the meet. Each team won five of the first 10 heats before Quinnipiac surged into the lead by winning all three heats of the toss event to extend its halftime lead of four-tenths by another 1.25 points for a 1.65-point edge with just the tumbling and team events remaining.
The biggest scoring move down the stretch came in the quad tumbling pass, as freshman Beth Magee, senior Hannah Steffen, senior Rachel Shier, and freshman Jessica Gill picked up seven-tenths of a point by scoring 9.350 to answer the Bobcats' 8.650 in the same heat. All three of the Cougars' solo tumbling passes scored 9.85 or better, with Ashleigh Pitts (aerial) and Heather Hovander (6-element) scoring 9.85 points each before Hannah Steffen gave Azusa Pacific a momentum boost into the team event by wrapping up tumbling with a score of 9.90 in the open tumbling pass.
What It Means: Azusa Pacific is 4-0 for the first time in program history, and the season-high score of 101.12 points is the second time in four meets the Cougars have scored over 100 points in the team event. The victory was the Cougars' first win over Quinnipiac since the 2015 NCATA semifinals.
Top Performances: The Cougars scored 9.80 or better (out of 10 possible points) in seven different heats, including a near-perfect 9.95 in the compulsory toss. All three of Azusa Pacific's solo tumblers posted season-high scores, led by Steffen's 9.90 in the open tumbling pass. Pitts' score of 9.85 in aerial tumbling was a new season-high, while Hovander tied her previous best in the six-element tumbling pass with 9.85 points. Steffen, Pitts, and Hovander were all part of the Cougars' synchronized pyramid heat which scored 9.85, joining eight others (Shelby Lopez, Cheyenne Eskridge, Katie Little, MaryKate Cacchione, Jamie Nolta, Katrina Gonzalez, Kimberly Loidolt, and Noelle Miranda) to help Azusa Pacific win the second heat and secure the edge in the pyramid event.
What's Next: Another significant challenge awaits Azusa Pacific with an upcoming visit to top-ranked defending NCATA national champion Baylor University on Saturday, March 24. The Cougars wrap up the regular season at home against the first-year program from Converse College.
Quotable: "We had some tough injuries to face coming into this meet, and the team wanted to win so badly, they were trying too hard. What turned it around was the team pulling together and realizing it was going to take the whole team to do this. Their mindset changed to a belief in the team accomplishing this together. For them to be able to perform a team event under that kind of pressure was huge. " – Azusa Pacific head coach Colleen Kausrud
"This team is better under pressure. I've never had a team that was able to handle the pressure as well as this group. They've realized that the urgency to perform starts in practice, and they zone in and make things happen. At the end of the meet, I was just in awe of how this team was able to come together and make it happen." - Kausrud
