EUGENE, Ore. — No. 5 Hawai'i Pacific University started strong in the first half of the meet against No. 2 Oregon, but the Ducks showcased their talent in the second half to beat the Sharks 280.100 to 267.595 on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
 
The Sharks (0-2) suffered their second loss of the week, while the Ducks (2-0) remained unbeaten.
 
HPU battled with the Ducks early winning the Acro heat in the Compulsory event 9.40 – 9.25. They continued their hot start by scoring 9.85 and 9.80 on the Pyramid and Toss heats, but the Ducks nabbed both of their highest scores in the competition scoring 9.95 on both the Pyramid and Toss heats putting the Sharks down by 0.15 after the Compulsory Event.
 
Oregon continued to score consistently high scores through both the Pyramid and Toss events and recorded another 9.95 in the 7-element Acro Heat while the Sharks grasped a high score of 9.70 in the Open Pyramid heat making it 97.50 - 95.25 Ducks going to intermission.
 
It wasn't until the Duo Pass of the Tumbling Event that the Sharks would come on top scoring an 8.95 on a 9.55 start value while the Ducks dropped an 8.80 from a 10.00 start value. For the rest of the meet, HPU would find itself just out of reach from Oregon culminating a score of 176.825 with the Ducks at182.90 going to the team event.
 
The Choreographed Team Routine for HPU has a starting value of 105.16, and the Sharks tallied 90.77 of those point creating a 14.39 point deficit from perfect. On the other side, the Ducks had a starting value of 107.890 and picked up 97.20 points for a 10.69 point deficit from perfect and a 6.43 lead over HPU to end the meet.
 
HPU returns to Oahu and has a few weeks off before its next competition, when the Sharks host the No. 3 Azusa Pacific Cougars, for the schools' second meeting of the season. The Sharks and Cougars square off Friday, March 2, in a 7 p.m. event at Moanalua High School.