Oregon acrobatics and tumbling got off to a winning start in the 2017 season after beating Hawaii Pacific 284.98-273.18 at Matthew Knight Arena on Wednesday night.
The Ducks had a strong opening event in the compulsory round but stumbled in the second and third rounds. Following a tie at halftime, the Ducks took a narrow lead after the toss event and created a bigger gap after a near flawless tumbling event. Oregon performed well in the team event to clinch the season-opening win.
“Great way to start the season,” head coach Chelsea Shaw said. “I’m really proud of them for their showing tonight.”
Oregon got off to an impressive start in the compulsory round, scoring a perfect 10 in the toss heat and leading the meet 38.60-38 following the first event.
The Ducks did not have as much comfort in the acro event, scoring a 9.30 in the second heat, and being outscored 28.90-28.50 in the evening’s second event. However, Oregon still narrowly led the meet 67.10-66.90.
“We don’t really pay attention to the scores so much as much as how we feel we did ourselves,” Shaw said.
In the pyramid event, the Sharks once again outscored the Ducks and the meet was tied at 96.25 at halftime.
With three events remaining, the Ducks had plenty of time to make up ground that was lost in the earlier events.
In the toss event, Oregon outscored Hawaii Pacific by a tenth of a point to take a 124.90-124.80 overall lead heading into the six-part tumbling event.
“I think we really showed up today,” Alexis Cross said. “We knew that [Hawaii Pacific] is very clean. … So we really focused on our catches and making sure we were tight and clean.”
Oregon had impressive runs in the tumbling event with Reagan Trussell and national champion Taylor Galvin scoring well on their routines. Trussell scored a 9.80 on her aerial single pass while Galvin recorded a 9.95 on her six-element singles pass.
“Reagan suffered an injury last week so we didn’t know if she was going to compete today,” Shaw said of Trussell. “I’m really proud of her for just stepping up and executing that pass as well as she did.”
The Ducks led 183.13-179.03 heading into the team event, the final event of the night, which was worth 110 points.
The team event went smoothly for Oregon as the Ducks outscored the Sharks 101.85-94.15. The win for the Ducks puts Oregon on the right track moving forward for its away meet at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut on Feb. 19.
“Every meet we just want to get better,” Shaw said. “Great start to the season but we definitely want to get better.”
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow.