ERIE, Pa. - No. 2 Azusa Pacific overcame a 95.50-94.80 halftime deficit to earn a trip into the national semifinals with a 271.675-265.985 victory against No. 7 Hawai'i Pacific Thursday afternoon in the second meet of the 2018 National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA) National Championships hosted by Gannon University and the Erie Sports Commission at the Hammermill Center.
Azusa Pacific jumped on top with a 37.725-37.150 victory during the compulsory event, but Hawai'i Pacific counterpunched with a 29.175-27.750 advantage during the acro event. The run started with scores of 9.850 and 9.825 in the five-element and six-element heats. Azusa Pacific rebounded with a 29.325-29.175 edge during the pyramid event, but still trailed by 0.70 points entering the break.
The Cougars came out of the halftime locker room focused and won the final three events to complete the comeback. The Azusa, Calif., club posted wins in the toss event (28.050-27.525), tumbling event (56.575-54.050) and team event (92.25-88.91) en route to the overall victory.
Azusa Pacific will face No. 3 Quinnipiac during Friday's first semifinal meet beginning at 5 p.m. A live video webcast will be available at
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/gannon.
