Tumbling Dominance Key To Top-Five Win

Friday, March 7

Eugene, OR

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

276.565

263.465

Gannon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

03/07/25 | Acrobatics & Tumbling

Gannon Oregon 3.7.25 Final Results Photo Gallery

No. 4 Oregon caught fire in the second half Friday to beat No. 3 Gannon at Matthew Knight Arena.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — Coming off a bye week, Oregon acrobatics and tumbling perhaps had a little rust to shake off in the first half of a top-five matchup Friday. Once the second half began, the Ducks were a well-oiled machine.

No. 4 Oregon took a narrow lead into the break against No. 3 Gannon at Matthew Knight Arena, then dominated the rest of the meet to win, 276.565-263.465. The Ducks bounced back from a loss to top-ranked Baylor but outpointing Gannon in four of six events, including all three after halftime.

"We made quite a bit of changes coming into this meet against Gannon — some upgrades in our team event start value — and overall, I think they executed really well," UO coach Taylor Susnara said. "You know, we had a few things go wrong that maybe we weren't expecting, but all in all I'm proud that they pulled out the win today."

The Ducks fell behind in the compulsory event to open the meet, pulled ahead in the acro event that followed and maintained the lead at halftime despite a strong pyramid event for the Golden Knights. By then, though, the Oregon women had found their groove, and they won the toss to open the second half before command performances in tumbling and the team event.

"We have a little bit more fun in the bye weeks, and so it's not that the focus isn't there, but it's just a little bit of, like, we can breathe," Susnara said. "And so sometimes that can create a little bit of lax, even though they're not meaning to. But I think we had just a few things go wrong today. Overall, very happy."

How It Happened: Both teams scored as high as 9.800 and as low as 8.600 in the four compulsory heats to open the meet. Gannon had a slight edge all told, leading 37.250-37.150 after one event.

The acro event began for Oregon with a 9.750 in the 5-element heat, with freshman base Angelica Martin pressing fellow freshman Cassidy Cu over her head and then dropping down into splits. That helped the Ducks to a 26.550-24.050 advantage in the event, and the lead overall.

With halftime approaching, Oregon built some momentum entering the break. With Bella Swarthout contributing in all three pyramid heats, the Ducks scored 28.600 points to maintain their lead, including 9.900 in the open heat that closed the first half. Gannon scored 28.850 in the event, but Oregon had the lead at the half, 92.300-91.150.

The Ducks then scored at least 9.550 in all three heats of the toss. They broke the meet open by dominating the tumbling heats — Morgan Willingham and Rachel Furlong scored 9.550 in the duo pass, Haley Ellis, Alexis Giardina and Briya Alvarado teamed up for a 9.600 in the trio pass, Riley Watson, Shea Barnes, Rickelle Henderson and Carly Garcia scored 9.400 in the quad pass, Alvarado put up a 9.850 in the aerial pass, Ellis scored 9.750 in the 6-element pass and Willingham capped the event with a 9.875 in the open pass.

Overall the Ducks outpointed Gannon in tumbling 58.025-53.175 — Oregon's highest score in the event since 2017. That gave Oregon cushion entering the team event, and with a routine that had a significantly higher start value, the UO women won the event 97.240-92.040 to secure a top-five win entering Senior Night the following week.

Up Next: The Ducks close out their home schedule by hosting Mary Hardin-Baylor on March 14 (6 p.m., B1G+).