No. 1 A&T Defeats No. 3 Oregon to Continue Streak

Sunday, February 27

Waco, Texas

3PM

Baylor

281.505

275.495

Oregon

No. 1 A&T Defeats No. 3 Oregon to Continue Streak

2/27/2022 8:10:00 PM | Acrobatics & Tumbling

Final Scoresheet

Bears improve to 3-0 early in the season after win at home over the Ducks

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            With all of her attention focused on what's happening on the mat, Baylor acrobatics & tumbling coach Felecia Mulkey can't see the faces of the judges as sophomore base Bayley Humphrey does a one-arm handstand balance with freshman top Jordan Gruendler.
            "I can't see their faces, but I'm hoping they're impressed," Mulkey said, "because I see it every day and I'm still impressed."
            That's just one of the tweaks and twists the six-time defending NCATA national champions showed off Sunday afternoon as the top-ranked Bears defeated No. 3 Oregon by more than six points, 281.505-275.495, before a Ferrell Center crowd of more than 1,800.
            "I didn't want to have too clean of a meet, because you want the team to see that there's room for improvement," said Mulkey, whose team improved to 3-0 for the season. "Oregon made some uncharacteristic mistakes. It was their first time out, they're not going to make those mistakes again. What are we going to do to stay up? We did well, but not as well as we're going to do."
            Baylor took control from the very start, with a commanding 38.80-36.35 edge in the compulsory event. While the Bears scored a 9.95 in the pyramid heat and nothing below a 9.40, the Ducks (0-1) had a costly mistake in the acro heat and paid for it with a 7.40 score.
            In the acro event, Baylor added two more 9.95 scores in the first and third heat and extended its lead with a 29.80-29.25 edge overall in the three heats. Even with another 9.95 score in the third heat, the margin was even smaller in the pyramid event, 29.50-29.20, giving the Bears a first-half lead of 98.10-94.80.
            "Baylor does such a great job running events, so it's always fun," Mulkey said. "And then, it's great to compete against Oregon. They're a good team, so it brings us up to a different level."
            A little off in the toss and tumbling events, Baylor lost the aerial and six-element tumbling passes, but still increased its lead to 5.745 going into the closing team event. Senior Briana Harris had the high score in tumbling with a 9.90 in the open pass.
            "A few years ago, I would have said we're a second-half team, but we've really honed in on the first half and can throw up some good scores there," Mulkey said. "We could still do better in that area as well, but our toss event is going to have to upgrade, our tumbling event is going to have to clean up, and our team (event) is going to have to clean up. We're really going to spend the next few weeks working on the second half of the meet."
            The Bears did edge the Ducks in the hyper-energetic team event, 97.08-96.82, but obviously had some miscues with a start value of 108.43.
            Baylor, which was 0-11 versus Oregon before Mulkey's arrival, is now 18-2 against the Ducks over the last eight seasons and a perfect 10-0 at home.
            Despite the convincing win, though, Mulkey said the Bears "haven't turned that corner."
            "I always say I don't want to peak until it's the right time," she said. "Today wasn't a day to peak. Today was a day to execute and learn and then figure out what our mistakes were, then go back and build on that.
            "You'll hear me say this a lot, but we haven't turned the corner yet where we're cooking with grease, if you will. That's my Southern saying. We're not cooking with grease. But, we're in a place where they're starting to clean it up, the athletes are starting to trust each other, they're starting to jive. And that makes a huge difference in what the skills look like."
            In the annual Alumni Day meet, Baylor honored the last eight classes and did a special recognition for the 2020 class that wasn't able to have an on-the-court ceremony when the season was cut short by COVID-19.
            "We sent them shadow boxes, and you do what you can on social media," Mulkey said, "but that 2020 class didn't get to have a Senior Day because of COVID, so we brought them back to recognize them."
            On the road for the next three meets, Baylor will face Saint Leo on March 8 in Saint Leo, Fla., No. 4 Quinnipiac on March 19 in Hamden, Conn., and No. 14 UMHB on March 25 in Belton before hosting its next home meet on April 4 against fifth-ranked Hawaii Pacific.


WACO, Texas – No. 1 Baylor acrobatics & tumbling continued its winning ways against No. 3 Oregon on Sunday afternoon in the Ferrell Center, winning 281.505-275.495 over the Ducks.

The Bears improved to 3-0 on the season with the defeat of Oregon, and improved the record to 18-13 over their green counterparts.

BU overtook Oregon in every event, only dropping two heats in UO's favor. The Bears had scores all over 9.4 in compulsory, finishing with a total of 38.80, besting Oregon's 36.35.

In the acro event, Baylor had no scores under a 9.90, scoring a 9.95 in the five element, 9.90 in the six element, and 9.95 in the seven element for a total of 29.80. Oregon had a total of 29.25 in the event.

For pyramid, the Bears continued their winning ways and once again scored over a 9.5 in all three heats. BU finished the event at 29.50, with the Ducks close behind at 29.20. At the half, Baylor led 98.10-94.80.

BU had a 9.00, 9.70 and 9.55 in the toss event to have a total of 28.25 points, compared to Oregon's 27.30.

In tumbling, the Bears didn't score less than a 9.5 in any of the six heats. The open pass was the highlight of the event, with BU scoring a 9.9 out of 10. Baylor finished at 58.075 for the event while Oregon scored a 56.575. Going into the final event of the night, the Bears led by five points.

BU had a 97.08 score in the team event to end the meet, bringing the total to 281.505. Oregon had a 96.82 point total from the team event to total 275.495 for the meet.

NEXT UP
Baylor will travel to Florida to take on Saint Leo on Tuesday, March 8. Start time for the meet is set for 6 p.m. CT in the Sunshine State.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.

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