A&T: @ #1 Baylor, vs. #9 Gannon
After winning their first two meets of the season, the Ducks went into the Bears’ den on Feb 28 to take on the dynasty that is Baylor acrobatics and tumbling. As the saying goes, “to be the best you have to beat the best,” and the Bears are annually the best in the sport. In the end, it was one of the tightest matches in the series Oregon has had with their rivals but Baylor once again held on 278.05-272.53. Both teams had identical starting values in the first three events (Compulsory, Acro, and Pyramid).
The Bears had fewer deductions in the first two events, but the Ducks closed the gap after outperforming their hosts in the Pyramid event.
Baylor had higher starting values in the final three events, so if Oregon was going to pull off a monumental upset they needed the Bears to make some mistakes. As usual, a team of Baylor’s caliber simply refused to do their opponents any favors. The Ducks fell behind just a little bit more in each of the final three events. The team still showed they will, once again, be one of the biggest threats to Baylor’s streak of national championships and get another shot at the Bears during the regular season on April 6 at MKA.
This past Friday March 6 Oregon hosted #9 Gannon. The Knights took some risks in this meet with higher starting values than the Ducks in Compulsory, Toss, Pyramid, and Team. It paid off at first as Oregon actually trailed after the first event, then slowly chipped away before taking the lead for good after Pyramid.
Oregon’s consistency overcame Gannon’s daring, as despite having a lower starting value the Ducks outscored the Knights in each of the final three events. The 276.055-270.570 final marked Oregon’s best score of the season. Even more impressively, the Ducks have improved their overall score incrementally in each of their four meets so far. This team is still looking up at Baylor for now, but has every chance to once again be the biggest threat to the Bear’s reign as #1.
BVB: Cactus Classic and MPSF Mid-Season Rumble
Oregon followed up a very successful opening weekend of competition by going 2-2 at the Cactus Classic in Tuscon, AZ on Feb 27-28. The competition was quite a jump from their first tournament of the season, featuring three ranked teams in #17 Grand Canyon University, #19 Georgia State, and #20 Arizona. On the first day Oregon opened with a 1-4 loss to GCU, the lone point coming from a straight set win by Daley McClellan / Elsa Snipes. Given past seasons, even recording a point against a top 25 opponent could be considered cause for optimism. Duck fans had their hopes rewarded later the same day with a 4-1 win over Georgia State. Oregon took the first two points before the Panthers closed the gap to 2-1 and still had hope with the remaining points going to a decisive third set. The Ducks took both and reached a milestone for the new coaching staff of Kristian Kuld (HC), Danny Woodley, and Brooke Blutreich by recording a victory over a ranked squad.
The Ducks also split their games on Saturday Feb 28, opening with an emphatic 5-0 decision over UTEP with 3 points coming in straight sets. The host #20 Wildcats proved to be made of sterner stuff and Oregon dropped another game 1-4. The dynamic duo of McClellan / Snipes again recorded the point that kept it from being a shutout, and once again did so in straight sets.
Last weekend the Ducks took a winning record to Los Angeles for the MPSF Mid-Season Rumble against what can only be described as a murderers row of opponents: #1 Stanford, #3 USC, #5 Texas, and #2 UCLA. Oregon was simply out of it’s depth, losing all four games 5-0. Gwen Fife / AJ Slojkowski did force a third set against USC and kept it close before falling 15-12. It was the only game of the weekend where Oregon was able to take a set off of their top-5 foes.
Given the circumstances surrounding the program, the results from LA are unsurprising. It also does nothing to take away from the progress this team has shown under the brand new staff. The Ducks will have an opportunity to get back to their winning ways in San-Luis Obispo, CA this weekend against UC Davis, Santa Clara, host Cal-Poly, and Cal State Northridge.
