Acrobats and tumbling can't stick win in opener

Acrobats and tumbling can’t stick win in opener

By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Web-Editor

Lender Court at the TD Bank Sports Center, typically the home of the Quinnipiac men’s and women’s basketball teams, transformed into a world of acrobatics Saturday afternoon as the acrobats and tumbling team opened up its season against the Maryland University Terrapins.  The Terps took the contest by a score of 284.540-274.855, sweeping all but one of the day’s events. 

The Bobcats and Terps competed in five events – compulsories, acrobatics, pyramids, tosses, tumbling and the team event.  Maryland swept the first half events, taking the compulsory round 38.60-38.50, the acro round 27.59-24.40 and the pyramid round by a fractional margin of 28.00-27.90.  Maryland also went on to take two events in the second half, the tumbling event by a score of 57.45-56.33 and the team routine, 105.050-98.830.  The tossing event proved to show the best of the Bobcats as they won 27.90-27.85.

In spite of the loss, the Bobcats had shining moments, including an almost perfect score of 9.95-out-of-10 in the pyramid heat of the compulsory round.  Flyers junior Christina Lasto (Oxford, Conn.), freshman Taylor Roberts (Kinnelon, N.J.) and sophomore Trisha Pierce (Middleown, Pa.) sealed the deal on the formation.  Lasto, according to head coach Mary Ann Powers, worked tremendously to get such results. 

“Christina, as a freshman, had that deer-in-the-headlights look all the time and she’s turned that around,” Powers said of Lasto’s performance.  “She just fights for everything she has.  She’s aggressive, fearless and wants more and more and more, and not just in a single round like tumbling.  She wants to own all of them.” 

The open heat of the toss event also brought the Bobcats to near perfection.  Sophomore flyer Victoria Cribbs (Albany, N.Y.) managed to score 9.45-out-of-9.55.

In addition to the success of the flyers, graduate backspot Erin Trotman (Bristol, Conn.) scored 9.8-out-of-10 in the open tumbling heat.  Previous to this year, Trotman had not mastered more intense tumbling moves due to an injury sustained before coming to Quinnipiac, according to Powers.  However, that changed this season. 

“She said to us this year ‘what scores a 10? I want my start value to be a 10.’ She’s been working at this since September,” Powers said.  “She’s an amazing young woman.”

Maryland, the runner-up in last year’s National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association National Championship and handed Quinnipiac the loss that booted it from the tournament, proved to be just as much of a threat this season.  Terp flyers Brooke Grohol and Lauren Shannon both recorded outstanding days, including 9.2-out-of-9.7 in the synchronized toss heat. 

While Powers acknowledge emotions may have been an issue, there was no question of Maryland’s talent.

“A lot of cases of nerves I think with some of our freshmen, but I think Maryland was just the better team,” Powers said. 

As the team moves forward, Powers noted that “settling down” will be key.

“They can hit their team routine when it’s all of their acro or all of their pyramids and basket tosses, but when you add the tumbling into it, we start to have trouble,” Powers said. 

The Bobcats next travel to Azusa Pacific in Azusa, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.