Top-Seeded A&T Defeats Eighth-Seeded Fairmont State in NCATA Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 27

West Liberty, W.Va.

3:30pm

Baylor

278.930

258.165

Fairmont State

Top-Seeded A&T Defeats Eighth-Seeded Fairmont State in NCATA Quarterfinals

4/27/2023 8:25:00 PM | Acrobatics & Tumbling

Results (PDF)Notes (PDF)Championship Central

Bears defeat Falcons by 20-plus points to advance to Semifinals

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Despite some struggles in the tumbling event, top-seeded Baylor (9-0) had the highest score of the day and defeated No. 8 seed Fairmont State by more than 20 points in Thursday's NCATA quarterfinal at West Liberty's ASRC.
            The Bears (9-0), trying to win their eighth-consecutive NCATA national championship, advance to face fourth-seeded Quinnipiac (6-1) in Friday's 6 p.m. CT semifinal.
            "We didn't have the tumbling event that we want to have or we will have tomorrow," Baylor coach Felecia Mulkey said. "But I feel like our first half went really well. There are some things that we've identified already in the first half, some little tenths here and there that we can grab back. I'm their biggest critic. They know I love them, but I'm never satisfied. We've got some work to do."
            Winning every heat and then dominating the team event, Baylor defeated Fairmont State, 278.930 to 258.165. It was the Bears' highest point total in an NCATA quarterfinal meet since scoring 279.200 against Gannon in the 2019 quarterfinals in Waco.
            "They weren't judging easy, in my opinion," Mulkey said. "I'm impressed with the officials, because they did not give in at all. They were taking every little thing off. Usually, when our team comes off the floor, I'm like, 'Oh, y'all didn't get that score. They should have taken this, they should have taken this.' And today, I thought they were really thorough."
            Building up nearly a seven-point lead in the first half, Baylor outscored Fairmont State (9-3), 38.375-35.00, in compulsory. Recording a pair of 9.95 scores in heat 1 and heat 2, the Bears won the acro event, 29.475-27.00, and then had another 9.95 in the inversion pyramid to outscore the Falcons, 29.725-28.60.
            "I think today was a lot about just shaking out our nerves," said junior tumbler Kristen McCain. "Tomorrow, we're definitely all going to focus on the details so that we'll be more confident going into that."
            Extending the lead, Baylor opened the second half with a 9.825 in the open toss and won the toss event, 29.05-27.425.
            The Bears recorded their lowest scores in the trio and quad tumbling passes with 8.500 and 8.725, respectively, but McCain had a 9.925 in 6 element pass and Kamryn Kitchens followed up with a 9.875 in the open pass to give BU a comfortable 12-point lead going into the closing team event.
            "Anytime we have three or four people trying to do the exact same thing every time," Mulkey said, "doing all of those skills every single time and trying to do them at a high level of execution, it really comes down to just timing. There are so many variables . . . sometimes you just have an off day, and today was an off day."
            Finishing on a strong note, Baylor registered a team event score of 96.330 and won its 25^th-straight meet with a massive 20.765-point difference.
            "Coach Fee always tells us that this team hasn't really won anything yet," said Kitchens, the NCATA Most Outstanding Athlete and one of four Baylor All-Americans. "I think we just go out there wanting to prove that we can do it again. Like, our program has won that, but this team has to go out and show up every time and prove that we can get another one."
            While three of the quarterfinals went chalk, with second-seeded Oregon (5-2) and fourth-seeded Quinnipiac (7-4) also advancing, sixth-seeded Limestone (12-0) upset third-seeded Azusa Pacific. Oregon will face Limestone in the other semifinal at 3:30 p.m. CT Friday, with Saturday's championship set for 4 p.m.

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – No. 1 seed Baylor acrobatics & tumbling defeated No. 8 seed Fairmont State on Thursday afternoon in the ASRC on the campus of West Liberty, winning 278.930 to 258.165 in the NCATA quarterfinals to advance to Friday's semifinals meet.

The Bears (9-0) downed the Falcons (9-3) with a point differential of 20.765.

THE RUNDOWN
Starting off the meet, Baylor had a Compulsory score of 38.375 after earning 9s in all heats, the first team of the day to earn a 9.0 in Compulsory Tumbling. A score of 9.70 was garnered in Acro, 9.825 in Pyramid, 9.85 in Toss and a 9.0 in Tumbling. Going into the second event, BU was up 38.375 to FSU's 35.00 score.

Moving into the optional portion of the meet, Baylor had a score of 9.95 in Heat 1, 9.575 in Heat 2 and 9.95 in Heat 3 of Acro to total 29.475 for the event. The Falcons had scores of 8.90, 8.725, 9.375, respectively, for a total of 27.00. Going into the Pyramid event, BU was up 67.85 to Fairmont's 62.00.

In the Pyramid event, the Bears earned a 9.95 in Heat 1, the inversion heat. In heat two, BU earned a 9.85, the synchronized heat. In heat three, the Bears scored a 9.925. With the event scoring a 29.725, the running total was updated to 97.575 for Baylor. Fairmont State totaled 28.600 for the event and had a score of 90.60 going into halftime, the Bears up 6.975-points.

In the Toss Event, Baylor had scores of 9.675, 9.55 and 9.825, respectively, to total 29.05 for the event. The Falcons scored an 8.90, 8.95 and 9.575, respectively, to total 27.425. Going into the fifth event, Tumbling, the Bears were up 126.625 to FSU's 118.025.

In the Tumbling Event, Heat 1 (Duo) with junior Kristen McCain and freshman Aliyah "Chibi" Thomas scored a 9.150. In the Trio Heat (Heat 2), Kamryn Kitchens, Aliyah Kaloostian and Ally Joswick scored a 8.500. The Quad Pass (Heat 3) had Katie Shiffer, Gianna Cameron, Emily Tobin and Alayja Reynolds score an 8.725. The Aerial pass from Thomas earned a 9.800, McCain in the 6 Element pass (Heat 5) had a 9.925 to highlight the event, and Kitchens in the Open pass (Heat 6) earned a 9.875. The Bears' total came to 55.975 for the event, while the Falcons scored a 52.550. Going into the nights final event, BU was up 182.600 to 170.575 from FSU.

In the Team event, Baylor earned a score of 96.330 while Fairmont earned a 87.59, bringing the meet score to a total of 278.930 to 258.165, BU taking the win.

HIGHLIGHTS

Baylor extends its win streak to 25 meets in a row, dating back to 2021
The Bears didn't drop a single heat to the Falcons
BU outscored Fairmont State by 20.765-points overall
Baylor's final score of 278.930 was the highest of any team on the day thus far
The Bears outscored the other teams that competed in all but five heats on the day, including team event
- BU had the highest comp acro, comp pyramid, comp tumbling, all three acro heats, all three pyramid heats, all three toss heats, tumbling 6 element and tumbling open heat

NEXT UP
The Bears face fourth-seeded Quinnipiac second semifinal on Friday, slated for 6 p.m. CT in the ASRC. The meet will be streamed on ESPN+ and live results can be found on the Championship Central page from the NCATA.

A full recap and final scores will be made available at BaylorBears.com/Acro.

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

- BaylorBears.com -