ERIE, Penn. – In a battle of top-five teams far from home, the Cougar acrobatics and tumbling team ran into some unforced errors and some particularly tough scoring from the officials, falling to the Gannon Golden Knights by a score of 270.95-258.625 Tuesday evening inside the Junker Center.

How It Happened:  The fourth-ranked Golden Knights jumped out to a slight lead in the compulsory event, winning three of the four heats, though the Cougars did take a 9.00-8.75 victory in the tumbling heat, leaving Gannon with a 38.00-37.15 lead after the event.  That gap would grow thanks to a few hiccups by the Cougars in the synchronized acro heat, though the Cougars kept things close in the event otherwise, utilizing the skills of senior top Payton Springer and the base set of Abbigale Abramson, Jenna Moisio, and Lily Richardson to gain a pair of 9.7 scores in both the 5- and 7-element heats.  

Another issue during the open pyramid heat caused the Cougars to give up ground in the third event of the meet, wiping out a strong start to the event and leaving a deficit of over four points at halftime, 94.7-90.55.  Things did not get much better in the toss event as the Cougars were again beaten by a significant margin in the synchronized toss heat and the gap grew to more than six points overall.  Gannon continued to pull away down the stretch, winning five of the six tumbling heats and taking the event by another two-plus points, with Sarah Lang's 9.55 in the open tumbling pass being the main highlight for the visitors.  While the Cougars' team event looked better than the 88.90 it was awarded, it was not enough to make up for the hole that had already been dug.  

Up Next:  Azusa Pacific (2-1) finishes this two-game road trip in upstate New York with their first-ever visit to Buffalo State, a first-year program.  The meet against the Bengals is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday (10:30 am Pacific).