Saturday, February 15
Waco, Texas
5 PM
Baylor
vs
LIU
No. 1 A&T to Compete Against No. 14 LIU in Home Opener
2/14/2025 2:56:00 PM | Acrobatics & Tumbling
Bears host Sharks for first time
Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Part of the last three NCATA national championships, Baylor acrobatics & tumbling senior All-American top Jordan Gruendler has never lost in 34 collegiate meets.
Even with all the success that she's had, Gruendler said she's never "felt this confident walking into a season in quite some time."
"I don't know, it's just something about the vibe of the team this year," Gruendler said going into the top-ranked Bears' home opener versus No. 14 Long Island University (0-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. "I think we have a lot more rapport, a lot more confidence. Kind of like open communication confidence, rather than just skill confidence."
Baylor (1-0) opened the 2025 season last Saturday with a comfortable 20.9-point road victory over fifth-ranked UMHB, 276.240-255.335, in Belton. The nine-time defending national champions are now 96-2 under 11th-year head coach Felecia Mulkey.
"I thought it was a good first meet," Mulkey said. "We left some points on the floor, that we could maybe get back this time. But it was a good place to start."
After putting "your stuff out there," she said, "you want to see how it scores, and then you want to see how our team responds to it as well."
"We made a few adjustments . . . actually changed the starting lineup," Mulkey said. "Nothing majorly, but a few nuances in there for this meet that I think will help us score better."
Long Island, a second-year program led by one of Mulkey's former athletes at Oregon, Shelby Armstrong, the Sharks ended their debut season with six-straight wins after an 0-4 start that included a 32-point loss at home to Baylor.
They kicked off their season four days ago with a 19-point loss to eighth-ranked Iona.
"This is a second-year program, but they look fantastic," Mulkey said. "They actually competed on Tuesday, and I was able to watch their meet online. And they look great for a second-year program.
"Both of their coaches are former acrobatics & tumbling athletes. (Armstrong) is a former Oregon Duck, and (assistant coach Nicolette Tianga) is from Quinnipiac. It's always fun to see young coaches come out and kind of live it out and make it happen for their own group of athletes."
While Gruendler has more confidence than she's had in "quite some time," Mulkey "tells us at the beginning of the season that we're starting from ground zero," senior Morgan Brown said.
"And this team, we haven't won anything," Brown said. "It's been an awesome journey, especially being a senior, getting to kind of bring up the underclassmen, especially the freshmen. I think our seniors, we have a lot of strong personalities. We love to have a good time. But we know when it's time to get the work done."
Saturday's matchup against LIU is the first of five home meets in a nine-meet regular season that includes No. 7 Azusa Pacific on March 1 and Iona (March 22), 13th-ranked Saint Leo (March 29) and No. 4 Oregon (April 5) on three consecutive weekends.
"It's definitely a plus being at home," Brown said. "I know a lot of our parents get to come down for home meets. But even being at UMHB, we got to travel the whole team. When we're at home, when you have all 53 of us, you really get to band together and support each other. Just the vibe of the sideline and the energy from the crowd is a really awesome experience."
The Baylor-LIU meet will be streamed live on Baylor's YouTube account, with fans able to follow live scoring at https://baylorbears.com/sports/2022/2/16/sports-acrotumb-live-scoring.aspx.
WACO, Texas – The top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team is ready to take on No. 14 Long Island on Saturday to open the home slate.
The meet will start at 5 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center, with tickets available here. A&T-specific posters are available as a part of Baylor Bold Weekend, all eight individual posters coming together to form one overall.
Coming into Saturday's meet, the Bears (1-0) face the Sharks (0-1) for the second time in program history and the first time in Waco, as LIU is in its second season overall.
Baylor is 105-23 all-time as a program and 96-2 under 11th-year head coach Felecia Mulkey.
BU is coming off a 20-point win over No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor on February 8, where it dropped just two heats to the Crusaders. The Bears began the meet with a 16.29-point leg up on the Cru in start value and finished with an overall score of 276.240 over UMHB's 255.335. Baylor left 22.55 points out on the floor, where the Crusaders left 27.17.
LIU comes to Waco after falling to Iona at home, 258.625 to 239.090 against the Gaels. A former Oregon Duck leads the Sharks in Shelby Armstrong, and assistant coach Nicolette Tianga competed at Quinnipiac.
The meet with the Sharks will be livestreamed here on Baylor's YouTube account. Fans can follow along with the live scoring sheet or follow the team X account for updates as well. A final scoresheet and recap will be posted to BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the meet.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Part of the last three NCATA national championships, Baylor acrobatics & tumbling senior All-American top Jordan Gruendler has never lost in 34 collegiate meets.
Even with all the success that she's had, Gruendler said she's never "felt this confident walking into a season in quite some time."
"I don't know, it's just something about the vibe of the team this year," Gruendler said going into the top-ranked Bears' home opener versus No. 14 Long Island University (0-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. "I think we have a lot more rapport, a lot more confidence. Kind of like open communication confidence, rather than just skill confidence."
Baylor (1-0) opened the 2025 season last Saturday with a comfortable 20.9-point road victory over fifth-ranked UMHB, 276.240-255.335, in Belton. The nine-time defending national champions are now 96-2 under 11th-year head coach Felecia Mulkey.
"I thought it was a good first meet," Mulkey said. "We left some points on the floor, that we could maybe get back this time. But it was a good place to start."
After putting "your stuff out there," she said, "you want to see how it scores, and then you want to see how our team responds to it as well."
"We made a few adjustments . . . actually changed the starting lineup," Mulkey said. "Nothing majorly, but a few nuances in there for this meet that I think will help us score better."
Long Island, a second-year program led by one of Mulkey's former athletes at Oregon, Shelby Armstrong, the Sharks ended their debut season with six-straight wins after an 0-4 start that included a 32-point loss at home to Baylor.
They kicked off their season four days ago with a 19-point loss to eighth-ranked Iona.
"This is a second-year program, but they look fantastic," Mulkey said. "They actually competed on Tuesday, and I was able to watch their meet online. And they look great for a second-year program.
"Both of their coaches are former acrobatics & tumbling athletes. (Armstrong) is a former Oregon Duck, and (assistant coach Nicolette Tianga) is from Quinnipiac. It's always fun to see young coaches come out and kind of live it out and make it happen for their own group of athletes."
While Gruendler has more confidence than she's had in "quite some time," Mulkey "tells us at the beginning of the season that we're starting from ground zero," senior Morgan Brown said.
"And this team, we haven't won anything," Brown said. "It's been an awesome journey, especially being a senior, getting to kind of bring up the underclassmen, especially the freshmen. I think our seniors, we have a lot of strong personalities. We love to have a good time. But we know when it's time to get the work done."
Saturday's matchup against LIU is the first of five home meets in a nine-meet regular season that includes No. 7 Azusa Pacific on March 1 and Iona (March 22), 13th-ranked Saint Leo (March 29) and No. 4 Oregon (April 5) on three consecutive weekends.
"It's definitely a plus being at home," Brown said. "I know a lot of our parents get to come down for home meets. But even being at UMHB, we got to travel the whole team. When we're at home, when you have all 53 of us, you really get to band together and support each other. Just the vibe of the sideline and the energy from the crowd is a really awesome experience."
The Baylor-LIU meet will be streamed live on Baylor's YouTube account, with fans able to follow live scoring at https://baylorbears.com/sports/2022/2/16/sports-acrotumb-live-scoring.aspx.
WACO, Texas – The top-ranked Baylor acrobatics & tumbling team is ready to take on No. 14 Long Island on Saturday to open the home slate.
The meet will start at 5 p.m. CT at the Ferrell Center, with tickets available here. A&T-specific posters are available as a part of Baylor Bold Weekend, all eight individual posters coming together to form one overall.
Coming into Saturday's meet, the Bears (1-0) face the Sharks (0-1) for the second time in program history and the first time in Waco, as LIU is in its second season overall.
Baylor is 105-23 all-time as a program and 96-2 under 11th-year head coach Felecia Mulkey.
BU is coming off a 20-point win over No. 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor on February 8, where it dropped just two heats to the Crusaders. The Bears began the meet with a 16.29-point leg up on the Cru in start value and finished with an overall score of 276.240 over UMHB's 255.335. Baylor left 22.55 points out on the floor, where the Crusaders left 27.17.
LIU comes to Waco after falling to Iona at home, 258.625 to 239.090 against the Gaels. A former Oregon Duck leads the Sharks in Shelby Armstrong, and assistant coach Nicolette Tianga competed at Quinnipiac.
The meet with the Sharks will be livestreamed here on Baylor's YouTube account. Fans can follow along with the live scoring sheet or follow the team X account for updates as well. A final scoresheet and recap will be posted to BaylorBears.com after the conclusion of the meet.
To stay up to date all year long on all things Baylor acrobatics & tumbling, follow the team on Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram: @BaylorAcroTumb.
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