UCA’s newly formed STUNT team flipped and tumbled its way through its first tournament, faltering to three teams but rising to the occasion and defeating Southern Nazarene.
“I am beyond proud of how our athletes did during their games this weekend. We came into this weekend with the mindset of just wanting to do better each time we take the mat and our girls did exactly that,” coach Alyssa Morrow said.
“By our first game of day two, we looked like a completely different team not only in our execution of the routines but in our overall confidence,” she said.
The Bears faced off against the Texas Woman’s University Pioneers for its historic first game Feb. 16.
UCA took the first quarter, securing 2 points in partner stunts.
“I think a big highlight for us was getting to compete with partner routine seven as a first-year program,” coach Morrow said. “A lot of teams struggle to execute the upper-level routines and four of our athletes [sophomore backspot/tumbler Alexandria Appelbaum, freshman base/tumbler Faith Dougherty, freshman base/tumbler Emma Daves and junior flyer/tumbler Crystal Vuong] were able to take the mat with that routine at two of our four games this weekend.”
The Bears continued to make strides in their first game, scoring another point in the second quarter while Texas Woman’s University collected its first point.
The Pioneers quickly took the lead from the Bears in the third quarter, earning a total of 4 points in group jumps and tumbling, entering the fourth and final quarter with a score of 5-3.
Although the Bears managed to snag 2 points in team performance, the Pioneers added 5 points to the scoreboard, ending the game with a final score of 10-5.
UCA competed in its second matchup later that day, going head-to-head with California Baptist University.
The Bears didn’t fare any better, unable to earn a single point in the game, giving their opponent the win with a final score of 24-0.
Despite the game being a devastating blow for the Bears on paper, the loss only gave the team the drive to strive for more.
Junior flyer/tumbler Bailey Dougherty said, “They [California Baptist University] are three-time national champions and are often the example we strive to resemble. Although it was nerve-racking to play such a well-established team in our second game ever, we held our own and got a lot of compliments on our skills. I think it showed everyone, the team included, just how much potential we have.”
The next morning the Bears returned to the mat for their third game of the weekend, prepared to prove their mettle.
UCA began its game against Southern Nazarene’s Crimson Storm with a triumph, scoring 3 points in the first quarter compared to the Crimson Storm’s single point.
The Bears doused out the Crimson Storm’s thunder in the second quarter as well, scoring 3 points in the group jumps and tumbling round, whereas Southern Nazarene remained at 1 point.
While the Crimson Storm proved more successful in the third quarter, picking up 2 points, the victory couldn’t crack the Bears’ lead of 7-3.
In the final quarter, UCA earned 8 points against Southern Nazarene’s 2, giving UCA’s STUNT team its first-ever win, 15-5.
Coach Morrow said, “Coming out of this weekend with the very first win for our program is so surreal. The overall scores don’t do any justice to how amazing our team did this weekend as we took the mat across from some of the biggest names in STUNT [the conference].”
The Bears ended their weekend in Dallas, Texas, with a 23-0 loss against the University of Kentucky.
“I’m proud of the outcome of the games,” Dougherty said. “Winning a game in our first tournament is an achievement in itself. We’re almost all entirely new to the sport. There’s a learning curve to playing games, but we all did our best and fought hard each game. We might not have won every game, but we learned a lot, had fun and grew closer as a team.”
The Bears will compete in a three-game weekend against Davenport University, Southwest Baptist University and the University of Tennessee at Martin in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 2-3.