AZUSA, CA – The six-seed Iona University acrobatics & tumbling team competed in its second consecutive NCATA National Championship on Thursday morning, battling against three-seed Quinnipiac in the opening quarterfinal. The Gaels dropped a 258.090-245.805 decision to the Bobcats at the Felix Event Center on the campus of Azusa Pacific University.

COMPULSORY

In the opening event, Quinnipiac grabbed a slight 35.800-35.375 edge over Iona. The Gaels best head of the opening four of the event was the pyramid with a score of 9.65.

ACRO

The Gaels countered in the second event of the day with a 28.125-27.950 win over the Bobcats in the acro event. Iona scored wins in the six-element and seven-element heats with scores of 9.5 and 9.325 to take the event and cut the deficit to .250 of a point.

PYRAMID

Iona closed out the opening half with another event win with a 29.175-29.125 edge over Quinnipiac. The Gaels opened with a 9.775-9.750 win in the inversion pyramid heat before a 9.625-9.525 win in the synchronized heat. The Bobcats took the final heat with a narrow 9.850-9.775 open pyramid heat win.

Quinnipiac held a 92.875-92.675 edge over Iona going into the halftime break.

TOSS

The Bobcats picked up a 28.325-27.500 win over the Gaels in the toss event. Iona's highest scoring heat was a 9.225 in the open toss.

TUMBLING

It was another close battle in the tumbling event as Quinnipiac tallied a slight 52.750-51.750 over the Gaels. The Bobcats took the duo pass and trio pass heats to start things off. Iona's quad pass group consisting of sophomores Riley Beauchmin, Emersen Johnson, Aspen Lentz and Julienne Templeman scored a heat win with a score of 7.525 to Quinnipiac's 7.400.

Momentum carried over into the aerial pass as junior Olivia Montalbano earned a heat win with a score of 9.425. Senior Ty Upton posted a 9.75 in the six-element pass but Quinnipiac countered with a 9.9. Junior Portia Dryden closed out the event with a score of 9.575 to tally a heat win in the open pass for the Maroon & Gold.

TEAM EVENT

After the first five events the scoring margin was 173.950-171.925 in favor of the Bobcats. The two sides capped the opening meet of the championship with the team event with Quinnipiac scoring an 84.140-73.880 decision over Iona.

OVERALL

The Gaels scored 245.805 of a possible 294.03 for the meet while the Bobcats scored 258.090 of a possible 296.440. Iona recorded two event wins for the meet and seven heat wins in its final dual meet of the season.

UP NEXT

The Gaels will now wait for the scores from the next three quarterfinal meets for the event finals on Sunday, April 26. Qualifiers for the event finals are based on the high-scoring performances with ties broken using each team's adjusted average in the events. Five teams will compete in each event final joining the at-large qualifiers. Iona looks to qualifiy for the event finals for the third consecutive season.

THE LINEUP

#0 Breanna Shivarain
#2 Mylah Vanden Elsen
#3 Annabella Cicci
#4 Keira 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
#29 Aspen Lentz
#30 Karryn Wieda
#31 Portia Dryden
#32 Mya Brayak
#33 Cristiana Abreu
#34 Madison Lutte
#35 Haley Merrill
#40 Paige Delman
#43 Gia Arias