NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — The fourth-ranked Iona University Acrobatics & Tumbling welcomed top-ranked Baylor to the Hynes Athletic Center to cap off its season opening homestand Monday afternoon. The Gaels battled tough before a late surge from the Bears in the final two events, giving the visitors a 281.030-266.045 victory.

COMPULSORY EVENT

The Bears took a tightly contested opening event by a narrow 38.30-37.25 margin. Iona's best heat score of the four was a 9.7 in the pyramid heat. Baylor closed out the tumbling heat with an 8.95-8.40 edge in the tumbling event.

ACRO EVENT

Iona hung tough once again as Baylor held a 29.55-28.80 advantage in the three acro heats. The Gaels posted season best scores of 9.45 and 9.65 in the six-element and seven-element heats on the way to a season-high event score.

PYRAMID EVENT

The Gaels came out firing in the event with a season-high 9.90 in the inversion pyramid as the Bears held a .05 edge in the heat. Iona posted subsequent scores of 9.75 and 9.85 to finish with 29.95 points while Baylor was near perfect with a 29.85 event score to take the event win.

TOSS EVENT

Baylor continued to hold the slight edge in the first event following the intermission with a 28.90-27.70 event win. The Gaels posted a pair of 9.3 efforts in the 450 salto toss and the open toss heats.

TUMBLING EVENT

The Gaels fought valiantly in the tumbling event as the Bears recorded a nearly perfect event, scoring 58 of a possible 60 points in the event. Iona registered a season-high 54.775 in the event. The duo of senior Ty Upton and junior Portia Dryden recorded a season-high 9.6 in the duo pass. Upton followed that showing up with a season-best 9.8 in the six-element heat. While Dryden capped the event with a season-high 9.825 in the open heat.

TEAM EVENT

Iona earned 88.02 of a possible 106.31 in the team event while Baylor recorded 96.43 out of a possible 109.63.

OVERALL

Iona eclipsed 260-point mark for the second time this season with a season-best point total of 266.045. Baylor earned 281.030 of a possible 299.530 for the meet. Monday afternoon was Iona's closest margin of 14.985 in the three meetings against the Bears who have logged 57 consecutive wins.

UP NEXT

Iona kicks off its season ending road swing on Sunday, March 15 with a trip to Oregon for the first time. The Gaels and Ducks will square off at 7 PM eastern from Matthew Knight Arena.

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
#11 Samantha Gonzalez
#12 Ty Upton
#13 Josie Hewett
#15 Violet Strong
#19 Cameron King
#20 Riley Beauchmin
#21 Julienne Templeman
#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
#46 Anya Heller