AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific took fourth-ranked Oregon to the limit Tuesday evening, eventually falling to the Ducks by a final score of 270.42-266.37 inside the Felix Event Center. In many ways, the evening brought things full circle for the Cougars' senior class, whose first acro meet had taken place against Oregon on this very mat in March of 2021.
How It Happened: Oregon led wire-to-wire, winning every heat in the first half of the match, albeit no one heat by a margin of more than 0.35 points. The Cougars were not without their high points in the early going, however, with four scores of 9.7 or better over the compulsory and pyramid events, with all three pyramid heats earning at least a 9.6. However, Oregon was just a tiny bit better each time, winning the compulsory event by eight tenths of a point and slowly building their advantage from there, stretching their advantage to over two points by intermission, 95.15-92.95.
The Cougars would finally break through for their first heat win of the evening in the open toss, taking advantage of an awkward catch by the Ducks to take the heat with a 9.30. Nevertheless, Oregon won the other two heats of the event to add to their lead again. The Cougars came up with a draw in the duo tumbling pass and a win in the quad pass, which kept Oregon's lead to just 3.6 points entering the team event. The Cougars were able to hold their own in that team event, but Oregon was again just slightly better, winning the event by just under half a point to secure a four-point win.
As the match drew to a close, the Cougars took a moment to honor the 10 seniors who have been with the program since 2021:
Shaelyn Marlborough,
Hannah Hawley,
Brianna Fong,
April Nava,
Kamryn Buhl,
Olivia Hamer,
Sarah Lang,
Lily Richardson,
Payton Springer, and
Maggie Carstens. Their careers began on an emotional roller coaster, joining the program during the pandemic and dealing almost immediately with the death of the coach who had recruited most of them, Colleen Kausrud. They opened their tenure with a memorable upset of Oregon and reached the national championship meet, only the second Cougar team to do so. Between them, the seniors have won 17 matches, made 29 appearances on the NCATA Academic Honor Roll, and have run the program's streak of consecutive appearances at the national championships to 13 and counting.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific (3-3) was sixth in the most recent national poll. They await the announcement of their fate regarding the 2024 national championships, which will be made public on Monday. The national championships will take place at Fairmont State University in West Virginia April 25th through the 28th.
