HONOLULU, HI (February 21, 2014) – The Hawai'i Pacific Acrobatics and Tumbling Team (0-1) made its program debut in front of a throng of fans on Friday night at Moanalua High School. However, the meet belonged to Azusa Pacific, (1-0) besting HPU by a score of 268.795 to 255.455.

The Sea Warriors started hot, winning the first three heats of the meet. HPU topped APU in acro heat, pyramid heat, and toss heat with the largest margin of victory (.25) coming in the pyramid. The toss heat's 9.7 mark proved be the best score of the event. HPU dropped the tumbling heat, but still held a 36.85 to 36.65 advantage after the compulsory event.  

"I'm very proud of my team in their first meet. We came out very strong in the first event. A few bobbles in the acro event but we are very proud of our solo tumblers," said Head Coach Keenyn Won, who made her coaching debut.

The acro event was incredibly close. After falling in the first two heats, the Sea Warriors rebounded with victory in the third heat by posting a 9.65. Still, the overall score tipped in the visitor's advantage after acro, a lead the Cougars would not relinquish.

HPU closed the first half strong in the pyramid event, including a 9.75 in the first heat. At the break, HPU trailed 92.55-91.80.

The Sea Warriors kept it close to open the second half in the toss event aided by a win in heat three.   

The more experience Cougars asserted themselves in the final two events, but HPU had some great performances, notably a pair of 9.825s in the aerial pass and 6 element pass.

"The final event proved to be tough for our team tonight. That will definitely be the event that we will focus on for our next match on March 12th," said Won.

The crowd was one of the biggest at HPU this year and Won is thankful, "We would like to say 'thank you' for all of the support we received tonight. I'm excited to see this team and program grow."

HPU will host Quinnipiac University on March 12th for its next meet.

Full Results