FAIRMONT, W. Va. -- The Hawai'i Pacific University Acrobatics and Tumbling Team suffered the closest loss of the season and the second closest in school history in their visit to Fairmont State Tuesday evening.
 
The Sharks (0-4) fell to the Fighting Falcons (3-0) 267.560- 267.125, a difference of .435. The only time HPU has lost by so close a margin was a .160 loss to Azusa Pacific in 2016.
 
The Sharks came out strong beating the Fighting Falcons in every heat of the Compulsory Event going on top 37.15 – 35.25 with a near perfect score of 9.90 in the Pyramid heat, but Fairmont State came back to beat the Sharks in the Acro Event 29.30 – 29.20 with their own near perfect score of 9.90 in the Six Element pass.
 
The Sharks continued to hold the lead throughout the Pyramid Event and into halftime despite Fairmont's perfect 10.00 score in heat one and 9.90 in heats two and three.
 
After the half, the Sharks dominated the Synchronized and Open heats of the Toss Event posting scores of 9.25 and 9.30 bringing their lead back to 1.80 points. In the Tumbling Event, HPU found themselves on top of the Duo Pass, Aerial Pass, and Open Pass with a tie in the Six Element Pass, but dropped the event 53.725 – 54.00.
 
Still on top going to the Team Event, HPU struggled to hold on to their lead seeing 15.97 points deduction from their starting value leaving them with a Team Score of 89.65. The Fighting Falcons took 13.90 in deductions from their starting value posting a score of 91.61 which was just enough to steal the win.
 
Throughout the entire meet, HPU saw a total of 26.15 points deducted from their total possible points while Fairmont State saw 23.40 in deductions.
 
The Sharks are back in action on Friday in West Liberty, W.Va., to take on host West Liberty and Davis and Elkins in a tri-meet at the Academic Sports and Recreation Complex.