HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Cougar acro team made it a perfect week, coming from behind for a hard-fought 278.37-275.975 victory over Hawai'i Pacific Saturday afternoon at the Shark Tank. With the win, the 5th-ranked Cougars stay undefeated on the season at 2-0.
How It Happened: The two teams were closely matched throughout the compulsory event, with all four heats decided by a tenth of a point or less. The Cougars took the toss heat with a 9.85 and narrowly won the tumbling heat with a 9.2 to take a lead of just five hundredths of a point for the event, 37.95-37.90. The Sharks won all three heats of the acro event, none of them by more than two tenths of a point, to claim the lead after two events. Hawai'i Pacific was again able to add to their lead thanks to a convincing victory in the first pyramid heat, though the Cougars fought back with a 9.90 in the synchronized heat. At halftime, the Sharks held a small lead, 95.55-95.05.
Azusa Pacific fired back into the lead with wins in the first two toss heats, with the 450 Salto toss team of
Ashley Fry,
Payton Springer,
Sarah Lang,
Erin Schmitt, and
Maggie Carstens earning a 9.8. When the dust settled, the Cougars were 0.35 points ahead. In the tumbling event, the trio pass again proved critical, as
Jenna Moisio,
Kourtny Nolan, and Abbigale Cortez earned a 9.15, which was over a point more than their Shark counterparts. Lang followed with a 9.90 in the open tumbling heat to ensure the Cougars went into the team event with a two-point advantage. The two sides' team events produced similar scores, with the Cougars slightly padding their edge with a score of 97.27 to secure their second victory of the week.
With the victory, the Cougars improved to 16-4 all-time against the Sharks, including 12 consecutive victories, a streak that started with a quarterfinal upset in the 2017 national championships.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific (2-0) will take a couple weeks to rest up and practice for their big east coast road trip in early March. Up first on that trip will be a visit to 4th-ranked Gannon in Erie, Pennsylvania. The meet is scheduled for March 5 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific).
