On the front end of its only two-meet homestand of the season, No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (3-1) had an opportunity to rebound from its first loss of the year. Trailing after compulsories to No. 9 Gannon (3-2) wasn’t how the Ducks would’ve preferred to start, but a season-high in six-element acro and stunning solo pass success boosted the team to a top-10 win. It’s not proof that this is a national championship-caliber team — that’ll only come with a win over the top dogs — but it’s more pieces of that puzzle put into place.

It might be time to stop tracking six-element acro (for a good reason)

Six-element acro has been the story of the Ducks’ first four meets. Against Gannon, it took its final step with a 9.700 score. It’s no longer something to worry about, because of the growth that Oregon completed on Friday.

Roughly 27 hours before Oregon’s six-element acro took the mat, head coach Taylor Susnara was standing near the scorers’ table inside Matthew Knight Arena after the Ducks’ practice. I asked her how happy she was with the Ducks’ 9.000 in six-element acro against No. 1 Baylor.

“I was thrilled,” she said. “I can’t even lie to you. I was so happy because Acro 6 has been our nemesis this year so far.”

Oregon’s issues weren’t just stemming from its Week 1 fall, she thought.

“We just were having a really hard time finding consistency and not letting little things create big things, if that makes sense — making minor adjustments,” Susnara said.

Just over a day later, Susnara stood near the same spot by the scorers’ table. During the second event against Gannon, after the Ducks lost points in compulsory acro, she watched their best execution yet with her assistant coaches.

“That was amazing,” she said later that night. “(I’m) so happy with Acro 6.”

The sideline’s excitement just after the heat, even before it knew the score, was palpable. The heat’s journey from a fall in Week 1, to better-looking execution but a lower score in the second meet, to a 9.000 which “thrilled” Susnara at Baylor, has been one of the Ducks’ most notable growth points. There’s few places where such enormous growth is visible in a program which thrives on across-the-board high scores, but to see this heat gain 1.8 points in the first four meets is encouraging.

9.700 is now the Ducks’ bar for the event and, with a 9.950 in five-element acro from Angelica Martin and Cassidy Cu against Gannon, the acro event can return to its place as a first-half scoring powerhouse. It’s no longer something they have to compensate for; it’s something they can lean on. That’s going to be important in April.

Depth shines again, and it’s a testament to the Ducks’ strong culture

Earlier this season, top Maya Khauv stepped into place and drew praise with a phenomenal performance. This time, the athlete was top Logan Davis, who stepped into the toss event in a larger capacity and bridged the gap between the Ducks’ two strongest heats (pyramid and tumbling).

The Ducks have four tops who can perform their back double toss, Susnara said, and each week of practice is a “friendly competition” to decide who that top is going to be. Davis’ performance at Baylor and in practice the week after earned her that place against Gannon.

“Pretty much every single week, it’s survival of the fittest — ’Who’s going to do it the best?’” Susnara said. “This week, we decided Logan had really executed at Baylor in her solo heat and had been consistent, and so we wanted to give her that opportunity to compete a little bit more in toss a bit.”

Oregon’s depth shone earlier this season matters for longer than this season, but it’s already paying off. The benefits will be reaped on April 6, at home against Baylor, and later that month in Azusa, California, at the National Championship. Culture matters. At halftime, a video played on the Jumbotron where several of the Ducks’ athletes named Susnara as someone they looked up to. During her postgame interview, behind the cameras were rows of alumni, who returned to the program that she’s helped build.

“It’s not an easy road, you know, every team is different, and when I came in as a head coach, I thought, ‘Oh, this will be easy,’” Susnara said. “And then it actually was much harder than I had anticipated, but well worth it. And I think just, you know, in families, we have highs, we have lows, and there’s sometimes adversity, but it matters how we come together at the end of that, and I think this team and our program in the last few years has really done a good job of building each other up rather than tearing each other down.”

What did this week mean?

Oregon can’t prove that it’s of national championship caliber until it beats Baylor — and the next chance at that doesn’t come until April 6. This week, though, was proof that the Ducks’ ceiling is high enough. Their tumbling, which isn’t even at 60-point strength yet, was phenomenal against the Golden Knights. True freshman Nya Womack has been a revelation, and scored a career-high 9.875 in her quad-whip aerial pass on Friday. Morgan Willingham’s career-high 9.925 six-element pass and Briya Alvarado’s 9.825 open pass were both more than enough to push the Ducks past Gannon, and they’ve shone as sophomore staples in the event.

Those are crucial pieces of a championship team. At this point, Oregon has proven that it’s capable of putting the rest of them on the mat — it just hasn’t done it at the same time. The Ducks get a week at home before facing No. 4 Iona next Sunday, and that matters, too.

Next week might be the best chance Oregon has to put a championship-caliber meet together. After that, they’re away at Hawaii Pacific University, then back at home against the Bears, probably with the nation’s top seed on the line. The pressure isn’t off against Iona, but it’s not crushing yet, either.

Oregon faces No. 4 Iona (2-0) on March 15 in Eugene. The meet is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT.