Ducks Aim To Reach Eighth Consecutive NCATA Finals

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team opens the NCATA National Championship Thursday evening, taking on Gannon in the first round at 4 p.m. PT. This is the second time this season the Ducks will face the Golden Knights, after hosting GU for a tri-meet, which also featured Quinnipiac, earlier this year.

HOW TO FOLLOW
NCATA Tournament central can be found at gannonsports.com. Each meet will also be broadcasted live courtesy of gannonsports.com. For score updates throughout the meet follow @OregonAcroTumb.

THE SIX EVENTS
Compulsory – Oregon capped off the 2018 regular season with an instant classic against Baylor at Matthew Knight Arena. Each squad won three events throughout the meet with UO edging out the Bears in the pyramid, toss and tumbling events to take a slim lead heading into the team event. Baylor went on to win the team event to record the meet victory. The Ducks tied five season-highs against Baylor, recording UO's second perfect 10 of the year in the open pyramid heat. Oregon also set season-high scores in the salto toss heat and the team event.

Acro – The Ducks loss to Baylor marked the first time this season UO has lost after leading at intermission. So far this year, Oregon is 4-1 when gaining the upper hand through the first three events. How the Ducks perform in the first and last events have been crucial to their success. UO is 4-0 on the year when winning the compulsory event and 3-0 when winning the team event.

Pyramid – The Ducks have been lights out in the pyramid event this season averaging an event score of 29.46 out of a possible 30 points. Out of all 18 pyramid heats the Ducks have competed in this year, they have only scored below a 9.70 twice. The Ducks have especially shined in the open pyramid heat, averaging a 9.88 across all six meets. Two of UO's five perfect 10s have come in the open pyramid heat.

Toss - UO has been on a tear as of late in the toss event. After setting a program record at Hawai'i Pacific, the Ducks tied that mark once again in their last meet against Baylor. Oregon set or tied season-highs across all three heats, with seniors Alexis Cross, Taylor Galvin and Kendall Green along with junior Tia Thomas and freshman Calyx Hampton recording a perfect 10 in the open toss at HPU.

Tumbling – The Ducks set season-high scores in four separate tumbling heats during their last meet at HPU, recording a 9.10 or better in each heat. Senior Taylor Galvin closed out the event with a perfect 10 in her open tumbling pass. Galvin has averaged a score of 9.66 throughout the first five meets of the season, recording a 9.90 and 10 in her last two passes.

Team – The Ducks will have a more challenging road to the NCATA Championship meet this year than in previous years, entering as the No. 4 seed. This is the first year Oregon is not one of the top two seeds in the tournament. This means that if the Ducks get past Gannon, they will most likely face No. 1 seed Baylor in the semifinals as opposed to the finals, marking the first time in the past three seasons that the Ducks and Bears are not the final two teams.

THE 2018 SCHEDULE
The Ducks finished the regular season 4-3 for the first time since 2015, which happened to be Chelsea Shaw's first season as head coach. Along the way, UO recorded five event scores that ranked among UO's top five all-time scores, including back-to-back record setting scores of 29.70 in the toss event to close out the year. UO had four players honored throughout the season with NCATA weekly awards. Senior Taylor Galvin earned two while Annelyse Robinson, Casi Jackson and Calyx Hampton each received recognition.

POLL POSITION
The Ducks are ranked fourth in the latest NCATA National Championship Team Rankings. The rankings, released on March 27, show where the teams stand in terms of postseason seeding heading into the final week of competition. UO has faced four of the top 10 teams this season, with their two losses coming against No. 1 Baylor and No. 3 Quinnipiac. Final rankings and NCATA tournament seeding will be released Thursday, April 12.

SCOUTING REPORT
Gannon finished the regular season with a 5-3 record. Quinnipiac and Oregon were the only two teams to defeat the Golden Knights this year. Aided by a strong freshman class, GU was one of two teams this season to earn three NCATA freshman of the week honors. Gannon put on a strong showing against Oregon and QU in this season's tri-meet. GU beat out both squads in the team event.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Ducks closed out the year with a 2-1 record on the road. UO has lost one or less road meets in seven of the past eight seasons. Oregon has knocked the home team out of the NCATA tournament the last two years. This bodes well for the Ducks as they open the tournament against hosts Gannon.

STORIED HISTORY
Since the NCATA's inception in 2011, the Ducks have won four of seven NCATA National Championships. The Ducks have reached the national championship finals all seven years, recording second-place finishes the past three seasons in a row. In that seven-year span, UO has a 65-11 meet record, including a total of 40 individual event titles and 17 All-Americans.

#CREATE IT
This season marks a new attitude for the Oregon Acrobatics and Tumbling team under its motto 'Create It.' The idea behind the expression is that in order to have success, you must create it for yourself. The team's actions, attitudes and dedication, both on and off the mat, will be the building blocks to achieving the Ducks' goal of bringing the NCATA National Championship back to Eugene.

LOOKING AHEAD
If the Ducks beat Gannon they will face the winner of No. 1 seed Baylor and No. 8 seed Converse in the quarterfinals Friday.