AZUSA, Calif. — Seventeen days ago, after the Ducks’ second loss of the regular season, head coach Taylor Susnara said they needed to focus in on team event. She was almost satisfied.

Seventeen days later, in the first round of the NCATA Championships, she was satisfied. Oregon carried a double-digit lead into the team event in its quarterfinal meet and, with the pressure all-but-off, turned in what her team agreed was its first event hit of its season. There weren’t any falls, stumbles, or hangnails.

“I am satisfied today,” Susnara said. “I think there’s a little bit more that we can perfect. I’m a harsh critic with the little things I hone in on, but as a whole, I’m very happy with the performance.”

No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling cruised past No. 7 Gannon University in its quarterfinal matchup at the NCATA Championships with a 262.510-251.165 win over the Golden Knights. After that two-week-plus layoff, the Ducks returned to the mat in a must-win situation and took advantage of multiple low scores from the Golden Knights to manufacture an unassailable lead by the time they hit the team event. Oregon will face No. 3 Quinnipiac University in another rematch on Friday.

“I think today was our very first meet of the season where we hit from bottom to top, from compulsory event to team event, and were so, so happy with overall execution and our energy,” Susnara said.

The story, really, had to be about six-element acro. The Ducks dispelled those demons midway through the season, then gave them new life with some wobbles down the stretch. In Azusa, Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara was matside shouting instructions as her team rattled off one of the cleaner heats they’ve put together this year.

The part that wasn’t stressful came in the other two heats. Cassidy Cu turned around and gave her head coach a big hug when the 9.900 score came in for the five-element heat that’s been her and Angelica Martin’s for the past two seasons.

“Now we have one under our belt, and I felt way more comfortable and confident,” Cu said. “I had a lot more fun this year because I was more in the moment, more present.”

Both had family in the crowd on Thursday, and stood on their heads in five-element. The bar didn’t rise quite as high in seven-element, where they dropped to a 9.725, but the damage was done to the Golden Knights’ upset hopes. 

“It’s an honor to do acro five and seven,” Martin said. “And I think that when I go out there on the mat, I make sure I do the same thing every single time. I know my cues. I know what it’s supposed to feel like, and if it doesn’t feel what it’s supposed to feel like, I know how to make adjustments mid-skill and it’s just so fun to be out there.”

Regardless, an acro event free of the low scores that have hamstrung it took the pressure off a pyramid event surprise. The Ducks have been one of the best open pyramid teams in the nation under Susnara — they’re the reigning champions in the event — but Thursday saw an off-kilter landing and a 9.775 score.

Oregon did make changes in the heat, where Cu was the top in place of regular top Selah Bell, a swap that Cu said they made “not even a day ago.” She was nervous going into that one, she said, and said it was a “mind game”

Susnara shuffled her tumbling event again, and placed Morgan Willingham back into the aerial heat, where the sophomore promptly scored an event-high 9.850. The Golden Knights didn’t help themselves with two scores under 8.000, and the Ducks’ 10.225-point lead was set in stone with that team event still to come.

After that second loss to Baylor, the past two weeks have been spent on that team event that held Susnara from total satisfaction. A lot of it. Fifth-year senior Blessyn McMorris put that first hit in as a goal for the team before the meet. Before that team event, she told the team they’d worked hard to build that 10-point gap.

“All we had to do was hit team event and slam that door shut, and I feel like that’s what we did today.”

McMorris’ words worked. They were going to hit it; freshman tumbler Addison Brodie said she could “feel it in the air.” On Saturday, after the meet, McMorris asked her teammates if it was the first hit of the season.

They agreed: it was.

Tomorrow’s semifinal is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.