BELTON, TX— The Iona University acrobatics & tumbling team took on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas on Wednesday evening. The Gaels fell behind early to the reigning two-time NCATA DIII champion Crusaders, but clawed back thanks to an impressive second half in the dual meet. A near five-point victory in the tumbling event pushed the Maroon & Gold to victory over the hosts, the Gaels completing their narrowest margin of victory in program history with a final score of 265.005-264.875. Iona's final points total also counted as a program high.  

FROM THE HEAD COACH

"We knew that UMHB was going to be incredible in the first half," said Iona head coach Jacquie Eshleman. "We beyond excelled in the second half and just went out there and delivered." 

"I could not be more proud of this team and how well they did today," she added.  

COMPULSORY

The Hosts handed the Gaels a narrow 37.20-37.00 loss in the compulsory event. The Maroon & Gold's 9.75 mark in the toss heat highlighted their first stanza efforts.    

ACRO

The Gaels continued into the second event where they were once again bested by UMHB by a score of 28.80-25.35. 

PYRAMID

The Gaels concluded the first half with a strong pyramid event that included a 9.65 mark in the first inversion heat, but once again were narrowly edged by UMHB who handed the Maroon & Gold a 28.85-28.60 event loss. Iona headed into the break down by a score of 94.85-90.95. 

TOSS

On the back of clinical executions in both the 450 salto and synchronized heats, the Gaels snagged their first event victory of the night, with a 27.80-27.30 Toss event win. 

TUMBLING

Portia Dryden and Alyssa Lentz spearheaded a colossal Maroon & Gold effort in the Tumbling event. Both excelled individually and earned scores of 9.75 and 9.675 out of 10.00 in their respective heats, with Dryden in the open pass and Lentz in the 6-element pass. Together, the two posted a 9.350 out of 10.00 in the Duo pass. Ty Upton rounded out the strong individual heats with her own 9.750 out of 10.00 in the 6-element pass.  

The Gaels' efforts were good enough for a 55.625-50.975 advantage in their second event victory, heading into the team event up by a score of 174.375-173.125.  

TEAM EVENT

The Gaels posted a 90.630 but were bested by a 91.750 total from the Crusaders. 

OVERALL

The Gaels took home a program-high 265.005 points out of a possible starting value of 290.52. The Crusaders fell 19.13 points short of their 284.000 starting value to close with 264.875 points.  

THE LINEUP

 #1 Georgia Mason         
#2 Mylah Vanden Elsen         
#4 Alyssa Lentz         
#6 Teresa Jennings         
#8 Rachelle Ricafranca         
#9 Olivia Montalbano         
#11 Samantha Gonzalez         
#12 Ty Upton          
#13 Josie Hewett         
#14 Sophia Huertas         
#15 Violet Strong         
#19 Alexandra Swaris         
#20 Riley Beauchmin         
#21 Julienne Templeman         
#22 Nicole Bonnett          
#23 Jenna Roby         
#24 Kendall Vess         
#25 Emersen Johnson         
#26 Rebecca Lane         
#27 Leilani Morales         
#28 Demi Brown          
#29 Aspen Lentz         
#30 Karryn Wieda         
#31 Portia Dryden
#32 Mya Brayak         
#33 Cristiana Abreu         
#35 Haley Merrill                
#43 Gia Arias     

UP NEXT

The Gaels look to wrangle a second Texas team on Saturday as they take on the Bears of Baylor University from the Ferrell center in Waco, Texas  at 6:00 p.m ET.