By Carin Holmes
News Editor

The KU Acrobatics and Tumbling team took the floor for the first time at Keystone Arena on Feb. 18. 

The team hosted its inaugural meet against nationally-ranked Quinnipiac University with stands full of cheering supporters. The team lost to Quinnipiac University with 139.050 points to Quinnipiac’s 270.890. 

“The atmosphere was amazing, the girls were all excited and we were happy about the turnout,” said Head Coach Karah Paull. “Even the other team was cheering us on and knew how much our first meet meant to us.”

While the team fell short of a win in their inaugural meet, they showed plenty of promise in some of their events. The team saw heat scores above a 9.000 in two heats, the Pyramid Heat of the Compulsory Event and Heat 3 (Open) of the Pyramid Event. 

They also scored above an 8.000 in seven other heats including the Toss Heat, Heat 2 (Synchronized) of the Pyramid Event, the Duo Pass Heat, the Aerial Pass Heat, the 6 Element Pass Heat and all three heats of the Toss Event. 

“We had some first meet jitters, but we did great in the Compulsory and Open Events,” said Coach Paull, adding that they were excited to get the two scores that were above a 9.000.

Coach Paull expects the team to become more confident as the season progresses and says she can see the team increasing their difficulty level throughout the season as well. 

Next, KU’s Acrobatics and Tumbling team will  compete in an away meet against East Stroudsburg on March 4 at 6 p.m. The team will compete at Keystone Arena again on April 2 at 3 p.m. when they host Gannon University. 

To watch the Keystone’s video on this, check out our YouTube channel!