HAMDEN, CT — The fifth-ranked Iona University Acrobatics & Tumbling closed out the 2026 regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 272.355-262.445 setback to third-ranked Quinnipiac. The Gaels hung tough with a .85 deficit headed into the final two events, but the Bobcats closed out the meet strong to take the matchup at M&T Bank Arena.

COMPULSORY EVENT

The Bobcats grabbed the slight 37.500-36.700 event win to kick off the final meet of the regular season for both sides. Iona's best heat of the compulsory event was a 9.550 in the toss. The Gaels also put up a season-high 8.7 in the tumbling heat.

ACRO EVENT

Iona countered with the 28.900-28.550 event win in the acro. Quinnipiac grabbed the slight 9.8-9.6 five-element heat win before Iona took the six-element 9.65-9.2. The Gaels closed out the event with a 9.65-9.55 heat win in the seven-element.

PYRAMID EVENT

Quinnipiac punched back with a 29.300-28.800 pyramid event win to cap the first half of action. The Gaels recorded scores of 9.65, 9.5 and 9.65 in the three heats while the Bobcats posted a 9.8 and back-to-back 9.75's. That gave the home team a 95.350-94.400 lead into the intermission.

TOSS EVENT

It was narrow victory for the Gaels in the toss event with a 28.250-28.150 event win out of the halftime break. Iona posted heat wins in the 450 salto, 9.4-9.35 along with a 9.4-9.25 edge in the synchro heat. Quinnipiac took the open heat 9.55-9.45.

TUMBLING EVENT

Quinnipiac grabbed a 55.875-52.275 tumbling event win after taking all six heats. Iona's two highest scores were a pair of 9.525 by junior Olivia Montalbano in the aerial pass and senior Ty Upton in the six-element pass.

TEAM EVENT

The Bobcats took the team event with a score of 92.98 while the Gaels scored 87.52 out of a possible 106.36.

OVERALL

Iona recorded two event wins and four heat wins against the Bobcats and eclipsed over 260 point mark for the fifth time this season.

UP NEXT

Iona awaits postseason fate for the 2026 NCATA National Championship, April 23-26. The Gaels currently rank fifth as the NCATA will announce two more sets of regular season rankings April 1 and April 8 before announcing the 2026 championship field and at-large qualifiers for event finals on Monday, April 13.

THE LINEUP

#0 Breanna Shivarain
#2 Mylah Vanden Elsen
#3 Annabella Cicci    
#4 Keria Ewing
#6 Teresa Jennings
#7 Vicki Zhou
#8 Rachelle Ricafranca
#9 Olivia Montalbano
#12 Ty Upton
#13 Josie Hewett
#15 Violet Strong
#17 Mia Russo
#19 Cameron King
#20 Riley Beauchmin
#21 Julienne Templeman
#23 Jenna Roby
#24 Kendall Vess
#25 Emersen Johnson
#27 Leilani Morales
#30 Karryn Wieda
#31 Portia Dryden
#32 Mya Brayak
#33 Cristiana Abreu
#34 Madison Lutte
#35 Haley Merrill
#38 Haley Nalty
#40 Paige Delman
#43 Gia Arias