Success looked different than the expectation.

For No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (4-1), its meet on Sunday against No. 4 Iona could’ve been a high-scoring moment of proof that the Ducks were ready to challenge for the national crown. It got some of those high scores, but what it ended up becoming was a come-from-behind win.

The Ducks hadn’t done that yet this season, and it proved something else: that this team didn’t crumble. Yes, there’s new questions about six-element acro. No, team event didn’t post a new high score. But events kept churning out just-high-enough scores to stay within reach and, when Oregon reached its biggest advantage in the fifth event, it let loose.

There’s a reason the Ducks won this meet: they can handle pressure. That’s the puzzle piece that’s been missing in big meets in recent seasons. It’s there now.

This tumbling group is elite

I mean, we already knew that. This isn’t a surprise; Sunday was just when their step-up flipped the scoreboard. The Ducks outscored Iona 57.025-52.150 in the tumbling event and, while that’s due in part to the Gaels’ 6.85 dropped points and two sub-8.000-point heats, the Ducks also didn’t score below 9.000 for the second time this season. They’ve posted a 9.200 or higher in quad tumbling (the most difficult to synchronize) in back-to-back meets. Their solo passes are strengths, not liabilities, and Briya Alvarado’s season-high 9.900 open pass came just a week after Morgan Willingham’s career-high 9.950 six-element pass (she scored 9.800 on Sunday).

“(It was) so timely,” Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara said after the meet. “So happy with how they executed and really turned around. Because being, you know, one-plus difference down going into (tumbling) can be a little bit stressful, and I think that everyone did a really good job boosting each other up.”

There’s also a word for compulsory tumbling here. It’s generally understood to be a lower-scoring heat, because if synchronizing four tumblers for a 9-plus score is difficult, doing it with eight for more skills is even more so. Oregon scored 9.050 in the compulsory heat against Iona, a 9-plus score for the first time this season, and a 0.600-point gap from the Gaels in that heat.

Ducks break nine for the first time this season with a 9.05 in the compulsory tumbling heat! #GoDucks | #Power pic.twitter.com/DRYqJcoiRq

— Oregon Acro&Tumbling (@OregonAcroTumb) March 15, 2026

Some of that is its freshmen tumblers, Nya Womack and Nyla Lassiter, who showed up again. Some of it is Alvarado, Willingham and Carly Garcia — the sophomores who’ve taken next steps. Some of it is Sophia Wing, the junior base/tumbler who, in her own words, is part of the duo pass, with Garcia, that “sets the tone” for the rest of the heat. That pass scored 9.450.

“I think really just, we know what we’re capable of,” Wing said. “We do it in practice every day. Our reps are so good in practice. So I’m never worried about the scores until the very end because it truly does matter only at the end.”

In the end, all of it is Oregon’s greatest strength and it just won the Ducks a meet from behind. 

Angelica Martin and Cassidy Cu, “Captains of the Boat,” anchor acro event again

There’s a sense that Oregon knew what it had in these two since before they debuted their first-of-its-kind skill last season. It certainly knew what it had when they started competing two acro heats this season. Sunday, though, was the payoff.

Martin and Cu stepped onto the mat, scored a 9.950 five-element heat for the second week in a row, then stepped off, stepped back on, and scored another 9.950 (heat career-high) in seven-element. There’s next-to-nothing for the judges to pick at, from two sophomores who are not only competing a new skill but are doing it in a new sport (not as new to them anymore, obviously).

That's a new high score!

9.950 in the seven-element acro heat for Martin and Cu. #GoDucks | #Power pic.twitter.com/iRXaPxkbSc

— Oregon Acro&Tumbling (@OregonAcroTumb) March 15, 2026

The other half of the story here is that, in between those two heats, they watched a six-element heat that had risen from a first-week fall to a 9.700 against Gannon a week ago come crashing down. That score actually got downgraded from its original 7.590 to 6.450, but Martin and Cu weren’t just chosen for their peak — they were picked for their consistency.

The Ducks have been picking weekly captains this season, to lead a concept they call being “on the boat.” 

“This year, we kind of created this motto of being ‘On the boat,’ and just going out there and working as a team and being together and stuff like that,” Martin said.

On Sunday, those captains were Martin and Cu.

“They’ve been so consistent and we know exactly what we’re going to get from them,” Susnara said. “So, when they got those two high scores, they definitely deserved the captain hat today.”

That’s exactly what those scores did: steady the boat. From that point, Oregon didn’t score lower than 9.050 for the rest of the meet, and had just three heat scores under 9.450. The sophomore tumblers might be the stars in crunch time, but acro kept an early deficit from ballooning out of control.

What did this week mean?

This was a markedly competitive meet, and it felt more so because Oregon didn’t lead wire-to-wire like it did in its equally-tight win over No. 2 Quinnipiac. The Ducks needed to show up late in this one in order to flip the scoreboard. They needed to take advantage of mistakes after their mistakes were taken advantage of.

Iona didn’t have the tumblers to compete with the Ducks in that event. If the Gaels had, it may have been a closer meet, but very few programs outside of Quinnipiac or Baylor do. This was, other than the six-element acro and team events, the most complete meet the Ducks have assembled this season. It’s what this was all about and what the ask will continue to be ahead of their final two meets.

“Next week, going into Hawaii, we’re really trying to be consistent, execute so that way we can feel really happy and proud after the meet,” Susnara said.”

Oregon faces No. 13 Hawaii Pacific University (2-1) on March 25 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The meet is scheduled for 9 p.m. PT.