MARSHALL, Texas – It was an exciting night in Ornelas Gym as East Texas Baptist University opened the Acrobatics and Tumbling season with a strong victory over Texas Lutheran University, 205.81 to 103.55. It is the third time in the past four years that ETBU has opened the season with a victory.
 
"It was great to win at home. It was really, really sweet. We have a lot of freshmen on our team, and to get to watch them compete and end with a win was really, really fun," said Maddie (Lozano) Lowe.
 
ETBU opened up the meet with a 10+ point lead in Compulsory with 25.15 points to TLU's 14.15. They scored an 8.40 in the Pyramid Heat and a 7.55 in the Toss Heat for their best two scores. TLU cut the lead in the Acro event wining by 1.4 points, 20.90 to 19.50. ETBU scored an 8.20 in the 5-Element (heat 1) as their top heat (Eva Dicken, Reagan Brown, Kennedy Kolander, Kera Ryne, Kate Cozart).
 
Bouncing back with 26.40 points in the Pyramid Event, ETBU extended their halftime lead to 12 points, 71.05 to 59.05. ETBU had two 9.0s in the event with a 9.00 in the Inversion (heat 1) and a 9.05 in the Open (heat 3). Trinity Heath, Sosha Weigand, Calrey Spears, Kilee Davis, Emberlynn Dye, Brown, and Hannah George all helped with the 9.0. For the 9.05, it was Dicken, Brooke Silvertooth, Brown, George, Davis, Ryne, Dye, Weigand, Spears, and Diana Garcia.
 
ETBU pulled away in the Toss Event with 23.40 points to TLU's 18.45 points. In the Open (heat 3), ETBU had an 8.25 from Heath, Amaria Thompson, Chesni Speaker, George, Weigand, and Dicken. They followed with 39.95 points in the Tumbling Event as the top score was 7.875 in the Open Pass by Lowe.
 
Scoring 71.41 points in the Team Event, ETBU ended the meet with excitement to take the win completely.
 
ETBU will face No. 8 Mary Hardin-Baylor on Monday at 6:00 p.m. in Belton, Texas.