WACO, TX — The No. 1-ranked Baylor acrobatics and tumbling team continued its postseason run Friday evening with a 278.075 to 269.485 victory over No. 4 Quinnipiac at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor (11-0) swept all six events for the seventh time this season and fifth meet in a row. It was the second time that the Bears and the Bobcats have met this season, with Baylor previously defeating Quinnipiac 280.775 to 269.675 on Feb. 24 in Waco.
Baylor started the semifinal matchup off strong with a 37.750 to 36.900 event win in compulsory, highlighted by a 9.875 score in the toss heat, and claimed the acro event as well to extend its lead to 66.350 to 65.175.
The two sides were neck and neck in pyramid, separated by just four-tenths of a point, but BU prevailed to take a narrow 95.625 to 94.050 lead into halftime.
The Bears began to pull away after toss as they earned an impressive 29.225 event score and increased their lead to 124.850 to 122.900 through four events.
In tumbling, Baylor received some excellent passes in the duo and trio heats, scoring a 9.65 and 9.525 respectively on their way to another event win. The Bears took a 181.125 to 177.775 advantage to the final event.
Once again, Baylor put an exclamation point on the meet with an energetic team routine that scored a 96.950 and sent the Bears into the NCATA finals.
The Bears have now won 29 consecutive meets and will advance to their fifth-straight NCATA National Championship Final to face No. 2 Oregon Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Ferrell Center. Baylor also qualified for all 15 individual event finals, which will begin Saturday at 11 a.m.
For tickets, visit: http://www.baylorbears.com/tickets/ [baylorbears.com]. For updates on the program, follow @BaylorAcroTumb on Twitter and Instagram and @BaylorAcrobaticsandTumbling on Facebook.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
On competing for a national title…
“It’s not about the trophy at the end, Coach always tells us. We always talk about clicking as a team and today, I felt that. I literally have no doubts and I’m so excited to go in to tomorrow and annihilate and trust my teammates.”
- Baylor junior top Lexie Amrhein
