Oregon acrobatics and tumbling’s undefeated record came to an end when the Ducks traveled to face defending national champion Baylor on Sunday.
The Ducks beat the Bears in Eugene earlier this season, but Baylor returned the favor in Waco, Texas, defeating Oregon 289.745-286.050. Oregon’s strong start in the compulsory event was reversed in the acro and pyramid events to give Baylor a narrow halftime lead. From there, the Bears performed with near perfection to end the Ducks’ hopes of an unbeaten season.
Oregon outscored Baylor 38.75-38.55 in the compulsory but Baylor flipped it around 29.55-29.15 in the acro event to take a 68.10-67.90 lead.
The Ducks kept it close in the pyramid event but Baylor took the event 29.55-29.40 to possess a 97.65-97.30 lead at halftime.
Following the intermission, Baylor outscored Oregon by only one-tenth of a point to take the event 29.00-28.90, keeping the Bears in front in the overall meet at a tight 126.65-126.20. The Ducks were outscored by .05 points in the synchronized and open heats of the pyramid event while the sides tied on the 450 salto heat.
In the tumbling event, Oregon fell short of Baylor’s mark again with the Bears outscoring the Ducks 184.975-183.300. The Bears snagged a perfect 10 on the open pass while Oregon’s Taylor Galvin scored a 9.975 on six element heat.
Baylor dominated the final event, outscoring Oregon 104.770-102.750 to beat the Ducks 289.745-286.050.
Oregon returns home to compete against Azusa Pacific on April 8 at 6 p.m. on senior night for the Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena.
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow