It wasn’t going as planned. The Ducks lost in their two strongest events — pyramid and tumbling — and had to perform when it mattered: team event. 

They did.

No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (4-1) grabbed its highest-ranked win of the season, 272.380 – 271.165 over No. 2 Quinnipiac University (5-1) in the Ducks’ first road meet of the year. The Bobcats swept the first-half events and won four of six overall, but the Ducks grabbed victory with a strong toss event and one of their cleanest team events of the season.

Quinnipiac isn’t about flash; they don’t have the slide-to-split skills that Oregon does throughout their meet. They’re about execution, and they did it near-perfectly in the first half. 

The Ducks laid down back-to-back 9.800 scores in the compulsory pyramid and acro heats, but fell behind after the Bobcats threw a 9.950 score in compulsory toss that simply flew higher than anything Oregon showed. The Ducks trailed — just by .050 — after one event.

Oregon dropped points in the acro heat, where one of its most consistent heats (five-element acro) scored just 9.65 — a joint-low this year — and a 9.30 score in six-element acro couldn’t earn it back. The new seven-element score that Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara inserted last week against Mary Hardin-Baylor scored 9.85 for the second week in a row (a joint-season high for the Ducks).

The home team, though, wasn’t to be deterred. Quinnipiac threw two 9.900 heats in a stunning acro event, and outscored the Ducks in every heat. Their lowest score, a 9.750, was higher than all but one of the Ducks’ marks.

Oregon, trailing by 0.800, was competing from behind for one of just a few times this year. A normally impeccable pyramid event still scored 29.400, and the open pyramid that scored a 10.0 earlier this year garnered a 9.950. The continuity wasn’t there, though. 

The Ducks scored just 9.600 in the synchronized pyramid, but the Bobcats didn’t blink. The home group scored no lower than 9.850 and threw two 9.900s to sweep the first-half events and earn a one-point lead at the break. 

Finally, an event win emerged for the Ducks in the toss event, where they took advantage of two 9.400-or-lower scores from the Bobcats and laid down a season-high 9.750 in their first toss heat. The deficit shrunk to under a point ahead of the tumbling event.

That’s where the Ducks did their damage. Oregon rolls out six 10.0 start values, which very few programs can match. Quinnipiac isn’t one of them.

Susnara chose to make changes to her lineup since leaving Eugene — tumbler Haley Ellis, who normally competes in both the quad and six-element passes — was on the sideline.

Instead, sophomore Logan Davis was inserted and fell on her landing. Oregon scored just 7.750 in the heat — by far a season low — and dropped the event overall.

Ellis didn’t compete in her usual six-element pass either, but senior Riley Watson stepped in and scored 9.675. The two shared a hug caught on the broadcast afterward.

Oregon threw down a team event that wasn’t perfect by any means, but avoided any falls or large deductions throughout one of its stronger meets this season. The Ducks, too, had a 2.54-point start value advantage over the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac, though, nailed its own coffin shut when sophomore tumbler Tiffanie Smith slipped on her landing during the Bobcats’ team event. Their issues weren’t prevalent, and aside from significant instability during their acro portion, their execution was solid.

The fall was just too much to overcome. Oregon scored 91.830 to Quinnipiac’s 89.740 in the event to win the meet from behind and claim its highest-ranked victory of the season by just 1.215 points. 

The Ducks stay on the road and head to No. 8 Iona for a meet on March 28. The meet is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. PST.