Perfect 10 Highlights Top-Five Matchup With Baylor

Saturday, February 22

Eugene, OR

4:00 PM

University of Oregon

272.780

283.630

Baylor

Photo by: GoDucks.com

Perfect 10 Highlights Top-Five Matchup With Baylor

02/22/25 | Acrobatics & Tumbling

Baylor Week 2 Box Score Photo Gallery

Oregon pushed the defending national champs all night Saturday before coming up short in the team event.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — The bar is set high for Oregon acrobatics and tumbling in 2025. On Saturday, the Ducks got an indication of what it will take to clear it.

The fourth-ranked women of Oregon (1-1) took on No. 1 Baylor at Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday, and threatened the nine-time national champions right up to the team event that closed the meet. The Bears took a narrow lead into that event and then extended it on the way to a 283.630-272.780 victory over the Ducks.

"I think we let a little bit of nerves get to us just at the end; you know, it's neck-and-neck and obviously they're the No. 1 team," UO coach Taylor Susnara said. "For us, we have the opportunity to have two meets, and then we get spring break and we get to see them again (at Baylor on April 5). So I think it's not over yet, and I think we have a really good shot going into it next time."

A week after scoring 281.205 in a season-opening win over Morgan State, the Ducks saw their overall score slip Saturday, though it still was higher than in all but one meet from 2024. Oregon cleaned up its tumbling after a couple of slips the week before, and scored a perfect 10.000 in the open pyramid heat.

Susnara employed a technical tweak to that heat, rotating Oregon's group 90 degrees to face the team's sideline, and it resulted in a perfect score Saturday.

"Very happy with the 10," she said. "We've been working really hard on that little bit of strategy with turning it to the side, and it paid off. So I'm really happy with that."

How It Happened: The meet began with Baylor taking a 38.900-38.750 lead after the compulsory event, though the Ducks improved their score from the season opener. They scored a 9.900 in the pyramid heat and a 9.950 in the toss heat, with contributions from Angelica Martin and Blessyn McMorris in both.

An area for improvement from the opener was the five-element heat of the acro event, and the Ducks raised their score Saturday to 9.850, with the freshman duo of Martin and Cassidy Cu. Baylor led the meet 68.450-67.500 after that event's three heats.

????????????#GoDucks | #Power pic.twitter.com/B9AVUgI8aa
— Oregon Acro&Tumbling (@OregonAcroTumb) February 23, 2025

The pyramid included Oregon's perfect 10.000 in the open heat, from the group of McMorris, Brylie Hoover, Bella Swarthout, Emily Rezner and Selah Bell. Baylor had a 98.000-96.550 advantage after the three pyramid heats, and extended it to 126.600-124.550 after the toss event.

Then came tumbling. A week after a couple of slips in the event's six heats, the Ducks outpointed the Bears, 57.450-56.900. Haley Ellis scored 9.850 in the six-element pass, and freshman Morgan Willingham scored 9.775 in the open pass. That got Oregon back within 183.500-182.000 entering the team event.

"In tumbling event we put out a really good showing, and I was really proud of that especially coming off of two falls last meet," Susnara said. "And then the message going into team event is, you're right there and you're both really good teams, and it's going to be survival of the fittest. And at the end of the day, we didn't show up. We had a lot of things go wrong, and Baylor came out mentally stronger today and hit the win. So we have some things to work on."

The two teams had similar start values for their routines, 109.18 for Baylor and 108.38 for Oregon, but the Bears scored 100.130 while the Ducks settled for a 90.780.

Up Next: The Ducks host Gannon on March 7 (6 p.m., B1G+).