The Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team, ranked No. 2 nationally, secured their third win of the season with a home victory over No. 9 Gannon on Friday. The Ducks finished with a score of 276.055 to Gannon’s 270.570, marking their best performance of the season.
Oregon started the meet slowly but gained momentum as the event progressed. The team faced early nerves in the compulsory acro event, where a minor error in the tumbling heat allowed Gannon to take an initial lead. Head coach Taylor Susnara addressed this challenge, stating, “Compulsory acro sets the tone for the meet, so most of the time that is where the highest nerves happen. When there is a mess up, we have to reset and we did that today. We really dialed in after that heat and left the nerves in the compulsory event. The team did a fantastic job recovering and I’m proud of the improvements they showed tonight.”
Despite trailing early, Oregon regained control during the acro event by achieving three scores above 9.500 points. Cassidy Cu and Angelica Martin opened with a near-perfect five-element demonstration scoring 9.95, setting a career-high for both athletes.
In the pyramid event, both teams posted identical scores of 29.500; however, Oregon’s open pyramid routine earned them a top score of 9.950 thanks to Selah Bell as top and strong support from Ashlyn Parlett, Emily Rezner, Blessyn McMorris, and Charlotte Lippa.
The Ducks pulled ahead during tumbling with a season-best total score of 57.625—nearly two points higher than previous meets. Morgan Willingham led with a six-element pass scoring 9.925—the highest by any Duck this season and her personal best—while Briya Alvarado scored 9.825 on her open pass and freshman Nya Womack contributed a 9.875 in aerial tumbling.
Coach Susnara highlighted her team’s resilience under pressure: “Being a solo tumbler is a lot of pressure, especially as a freshman,” she said. “As someone who once competed, I know that you can do the skills all day in practice, but when you get to the meet, all eyes are on you. Sometimes that can get the best of you, but our tumblers have been excellent this year.”
Oregon concluded with their strongest team event score yet at 93.180 points to secure victory.
The Ducks will next host Iona Gaels at Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday, March 15.
