By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 1 Baylor acrobatics and tumbling began its title defense with a 271.325-260.195 win over No. 8 Converse University to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. The defending champs won all but two heats to get past the quarterfinals.
“Well we left a lot of room for improvement, that’s my opening statement,” head coach Felecia Mulkey said. “So, we’ve got some stuff we’re going to work on. Get a little better in the second half, I felt like our first half went really well and just some really uncharacteristic random things today. I don’t think you’ll see those tomorrow.”
To kickoff the meet, the Bears won the Compulsory event 38.55-35.85, sweeping through the event, winning every heat and scoring over nine points in each.
In the Acro event, Baylor finished with a 9.85 or higher in every element. They finished with a final event score of 29.60-28.675, pushing the meet lead to 68.185-64.525.
The Bears began the pyramid event with a perfect first heat, scoring a flawless 10 in the inverted heat. Their performance helped them slightly increase their lead to 97.875-93.375 going into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Bears once again swept Converse in the Toss event, scoring a 9.2 or better in every heat. Baylor totaled 28.325 to Converse’s 26.475, bringing the total score to 126.200-119.850.
The fifth event was the Tumbling event, where the Bears had an unusual performance. Despite winning the event, they lost two heats where they scored under nine points in both. They were still able to build a two-point advantage to end the event, going into the final event with a 180.075-171.075 lead.
“I don’t think our confidence is shaken,” senior base Kate Puentes said. “I think it was a bummer. We’re all disappointed about some of the things that happened today, but I don’t think it’s making us any more nervous or less confident going into tomorrow. I think it’s like, ‘Alright, that sucked. Let’s move on from it and do better tomorrow.’ I think that’s all we can do.”
To end the meet, the Bears once again put on a show for the team event. Totaling a score of 91.325 over Converse’s 89.120.
Up Next, the Bears advance to the semifinals to face No. 4 Quinnipiac University at 9 p.m. on Friday.
