By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 1 Baylor acrobatics and tumbling improved to 3-0 on the season after defeating No. 3 University of Oregon 281.505-275.495 on Sunday in the Ferrell Center. Head coach Felecia Mulkey said the team is exactly where she wants them to be right now.
“The season is a process and I don’t want to peak until the right time, and today was not the day to peak,” Mulkey said. “Today was a day to execute, learn and then figure out what our mistakes were and then go back and build on that. The fun part of coaching for me is following through the process through the year and peaking at the right time, and we’re right on par to do that.”
The defending champions swept through every compulsory event, finishing with a score of 38.900 to Oregon’s 36.350. The Bears scored a 9.40 or higher in every heat of the event, including a 9.90 in the toss.
In the second event, Baylor came away with another win. They came close to perfect scores in each of the elements. In the five element the Bears scored 9.950, 9.900 in the six element, and 9.950 in the seven. Baylor finished with 29.80 total points, bringing their meet total to 68.60.
The Bears won the pyramid event by only .300 points, 29.50-29.20. In the inverted heat they scored 9.80, 9.750 in the synchronized heat and 9.950 in the open heat. Allowing Baylor to head into halftime leading 98.10-94.80.
Coming out of the break, Baylor dominated in the toss event, winning the salto (9.00), synchronized (9.700), and open (9.550) heats.
The Bears widened the gap in the fifth event, tumbling. They won the duo (9.650), trio (9.600), quad (9.500), and the open (9.900) heats bringing their event totals to 58.075 to Oregon’s 56.575. The total meet score going into the team event was 184.425-178.675.
The Bears finished off the Ducks in the final team event, outscoring them 97.080-96.820. Bringing the final score to 281.505-275.495.
Up next, Baylor travels to Saint Leo, Fla. to face off against Saint Leo University at 6 p.m. on Mar. 8.
