The Ducks came close again.

In No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling’s (5-2) second loss of the season to No. 1 Baylor University (9-0), it was the same themes that emerged. Despite pre-meet changes to the Ducks’ tumbling lineup, they limited mistakes (committing no major ones through the first five events) and kept within two points of the 10-time national champions before team event.

Once they got there, though, they couldn’t hold the line. Oregon tumblers missed landings multiple times, and the Bears didn’t. By virtue of those mistakes and a higher start value, Baylor’s undefeated streak that stretches back to 2021 remained unbroken. 

Sure, the Ducks were close, but only as close as their head coach, Taylor Susnara, was to satisfaction with their performance (“Almost,” she said). Instead, they left with another loss and no proof that the nation’s best team is fallible. 

Depth drawn on again, but tumbling can’t deliver comeback

The tenor of this meet changed as soon as Oregon shuffled its lineup for tumbling. The Ducks’ depth at the position under Susnara, a former All-American tumbler, is formidable. The changes, though, were extra moments to master in a meet where their best would have already been demanded.

“Both freshmen, Reagan Grisby and Addison Brodie, have been working really hard this whole year, and unfortunately, we did have two pretty significant injuries with some of our athletes going into this meet,” Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara said. “And so we were able to call on Addie and Griggs, and they stepped up and did a really great job.”

Oregon’s new tumbling lineup included swaps in group tumbling: Briya Alvarado stepped into duo pass alongside Sophia Wing; Morgan Willingham, Nyla Lassiter and Carly Garcia filled trio pass; and Shea Barnes returned to quad alongside Avery Dodd, Ashlyn Parlett and Addison Brodie (one of two first-time Ducks competitors in the meet). Alvarado also swapped solo passes with Willingham, while Garcia remained in the aerial heat — Susnara referred to those solo pass adjustments as strategic changes rather than injury-necessitated.

That tumbling group was enough for a 57.050 score, Oregon’s second-best total of the season behind its home win over Gannon University, but still lagged a full point behind the Bears’ 58.050 total — in large part because Baylor outscored the Ducks in duo and quad by four and five-tenths, respectively. 

It’s an event that has extended Oregon leads and completed comebacks this season. Monday, for all the success that the tactical and necessary changes had, it was neither.

Consistency isn’t enough

Part of the key every time that Oregon has faced the Bears has been to achieve a level of near-unseen consistency. It’s difficult to beat Baylor with one mistake, let alone multiple, because of the rarity with which they make enormous mistakes. The Ducks delivered on that necessity for five events and posted just one score under 9.000 (an 8.950 in compulsory tumbling) and two under 9.350. By and large, they made no mistakes and overcame season-long issues in six-element acro to deliver their second-best score of the season in the heat.

But that wasn’t enough. While Oregon touched 9.900 twice on Monday night, in five-element acro and open pyramid, Baylor did it five times. Regardless of how consistently mistake-free the Ducks were, the Bears were consistently elite — and that’s the difference.

“Baylor is a standout program,” Susnara said. “They have been for many years now, and I think just going against them without fear is something that we did really well from the beginning and then in team event, I think when it was so close, we got a little nervous, and we changed what we did.”

If Oregon is going to win its first national championship since 2014, it’s almost certainly going to have to beat the Bears. That might mean beating its own tendency to make mistakes in team event, as Susnara addressed.

Consistency is enough to beat all but the top two teams in the nation. Two things hurt the Ducks in this meet: team event mistakes and an inability to touch that elite level more than twice.

What did this meet mean?

It means that, should Oregon win out en route to a rematch with Baylor, it’s going to take something new to dethrone them. This regular season didn’t have a meet that would’ve beat the Bears — the closest the Ducks got was likely their win over Gannon in which they did cross 9.900 five times.

There’s also some recognition that should go to the senior class here — Blessyn McMorris, Charlotte Lippa, Mari Fukutomi, Nicole Jackson, Shea Barnes, Ava Gowdy, Ashlee Wagner, Niya Hewitt and Ashlyn Parlett — Susnara’s second to come through entirely through her program. 

The 2026 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling senior class: pic.twitter.com/z11Y69wvXt

— Owen Murray (@OwenMurraySEA) April 7, 2026

McMorris is undoubtedly one of the Ducks’ most talented athletes ever, all the way from her Freshman of the Year win to her two Athlete of the Week wins this season. She returned from her junior year season-long injury to turn in what may become back-to-back All-American seasons.

Parlett also deserves a mention — she stepped into base Bella Swarthout’s mid-base role in the open pyramid and helped maintain what’s consistently been the Ducks’ best heat. She’s graduating after three years in the program, and picked up an Athlete of the Week win after the Ducks’ perfect-10 in their win over No. 3 Quinnipiac.

This was one of Oregon strongest senior classes, and it’ll be vital in the postseason. Fukutomi has been influential as a top, while Barnes stepped back into quad tumbling against Baylor after missing time in the middle of the season.

“(There’s) big emotions, as you can see from the girls when they’re being recognized,” Susnara said. “A lot of love for this senior class. We talked a little bit about just how unique they are, with their personalities. Something they have in common is that they’re all just really genuine kind humans, and they have led with grace this year.”

Oregon awaits the final two sets of NCATA Championship rankings, on April 8 and 13, ahead of the NCATA Championships in Azusa, California, from April 23-26.