By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 1 Baylor acrobatics and tumbling defeated No. 14 Presbyterian College 274.055-243.375 on Sunday to improve to 3-0 on the season. The defending national champs have now won 19-straight meets.
“There’s a lot I’m proud of but we have some tweaks to make,” head coach Felecia Mulkey said. “We have some time off before our next meet that will do us some good, but I think we’re right where we need to be heading to Oregon in a few weeks. I think the judges got it right in Pyramid, I couldn’t find anything wrong with heat two, but it’s hard to make two groups be perfectly in sync.
“We moved the lineup around in tumbling, and I thought they did a great job. We have some more in our arsenal I’m looking forward to tapping into.”
In the first two events, Compulsory and Acro, the Bears scored over 9.3 in every single heat, securing a mark of 38.4 in the first and 29.6 in the second, bringing their lead to 68.00-62.25 and establishing an immediate advantage.
Third was the Pyramid event, in which Baylor was near perfect. The Bears scored a 9.85, a perfect 10 and 9.95 for 29.8-26.1 event win. At the half they led 97.8-88.35.
Coming out of the break strong, the green and gold shined as it took on the fourth event, Toss, 29.1-25.
Event five, Tumbling, is what Baylor dominated. In all six heats the Bears scored a nine or better and Presbyterian fell short of securing a single nine in this event. The team won the event 57.525-46.925, widening the gap to 184.325-160.275 going into the final team event.
Baylor handled business again in the team event, scoring a 89.73 to its opponents’ 83.1, sealing its victory.
Up next, the Bears get a quick break before returning to action on March 8 for their 8 p.m. CT matchup against No. 5 University of Oregon at the Matthew Knight Center in Eugene, Ore.
