The Quinnipiac University acrobatics and tumbling team returned to M&T Bank Arena for the second time this year. Last time at home, the Bobcats pounced all over the new LIU Sharks program, beating them by a score of 40. After that, they had two west coast matchups against Azusa Pacific and Oregon, besting APU by 12 and narrowly escaping the Ducks by five.
Its opponent on Saturday would be Iona University, another team in their first year as a program. Shockingly, the Gaels had gotten off to a 3-1 start themselves, with their only loss coming to the reigning champs of Baylor University.
To start the meet, in the compulsory event, the Bobcats did their part, putting up a score of 38.05 of a possible 40. They superseded their season averages in both the acro and tumble heats. However, Iona held its own in this event, putting up a score of 37.65 to not give the Bobcats all that much breathing room.
In the acro event, Quinnipiac again put up a stellar showing, putting up scores of 9.65, 9.45 and 9.75. In the seven element, senior MiaRose King performed a stellar bodily twist to secure the highest heat score of the event. However, despite the 28.85 put up by the Bobcats, Iona again was right on their tail, putting up a 28.1 of its own to leave the total match score at 66.9 – 65.75 in favor of the home team.
The pyramid heat was even more tightly contested. In the synchronized heat, Iona’s two tops had a very noticeable delay from one another during the drop, almost so that by the time the first tumbler was caught, Alyssa Lentz was still in the air.
During the Bobcats’ half of the heat, Sarah Ablaidan, who was in the middle of the leftmost pyramid, seemed a bit shaky for a moment before stabilizing and finishing what would turn out to be a strong performance.
In the open heat, the Gaels’ pyramid consisted of Paige Delman as the bridge on the bottom, Alia Ellis in the middle and Athena Martinez on top, with no additional support before Martinez dropped for the catch. The Bobcats countered this move with their own rendition, having a unit that consisted of Kaya Clark as the bridge, Hallie Fowler in the middle and Alyssa Dillon on top, again with no support. When Dillon dropped, the catch seemed significantly more fluid and tight, a sentiment that was reflected in the scores, as the Bobcats won the open heat 9.9 – 9.75.
Overall in the pyramid heat, the Bobcats managed a 29.4 to Iona’s 29.0, to make the match total 96.3 – 94.75. A lead that, while starting to build, leaves very little margin for error on either side.
Not much changed in the toss event, Quinnipiac held its own with a strong performance and Iona remained right on its tail. Iona had a shaky catch on the Salto heat, but in the synchronized heat, Lydsey Rudolph did not get as high in the air as King, leading to her missing a rotation and being caught earlier. In the open, Rudolph performed a flawless aerial into a catch that she stuck to like velcro. She earned her team a 9.15 for her efforts.
In all, the Bobcats put up 27.6 while the Gaels received a 26.8. The total score then sat at 123.9-121.55. With the meet staying so close, the looming team event grew even more important.
In the tumble event, the Bobcats were finally able to truly pull away. In the synchronized passes, Iona struggled to stick a landing in unison, while the duo of Rudolph and Summer Knoell and trio of Tiffany Zieba, Katherine Carter and Farrah Chernov were nearly identical throughout their passes. When the girls on the trio pass stuck their landing, the Bobcats’ sideline exploded with adrenaline.
The quad pass has been a weak point for Quinnipiac thus far, as it has its lowest average of any base 10 heat, sitting at 8.18 coming into the day. Despite that, they were credited with an 8.5 while Iona could only manage 7.95.
In the solo passes, Quinnipiac really started to pull through. Katherine Carter had a great aerial pass, Payton Sack had a phenomenal pass incorporating back hand springs and Tiffany Zieba rounded it off with some flawless no hand flips. Iona struggled to stick the landings, and at the end of the event the Bobcats had been given a 56.175 to 52.9 advantage. Heading into the team event, they were up six.
Iona’s team event was rather shaky, but it managed to pull together when it started on the pyramids, and the tumbling passes were really intricate and well done. It were awarded an 87.03
As for Quinnipiac, it came out early and often with the pyramids. King continued to impress with acro moves, Tiffanie Smith had struck a great landing on a solo pass and Kathryn Coker had a great flip off of a toss.
Head Coach Mary Ann Powers was extremely impressed
“This week’s team routine was actually better than last weeks. The corners were so much better,” She said. She also mentioned that she was impressed with how her team stuck its landings this week.
To end off the team event, Katherine Carter had a great solo pass that served as the huge finale for the Bobcats.
“(It was my) first time out there this season so the only thing I was thinking about was just trying to enjoy the moment and sink it all in to have fun,” she said after the match.
The Bobcats earned a 90.75 in the team event, enough to give them a decisive 270.825-261.48 victory over Iona. They return to action on April 6 when they face Gannon University.
