WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University acrobatics and tumbling team broke eight heat records and tied another here Tuesday night in an impressive season-opening win against Davis & Elkins inside the ASRC.
    Coach Kelsey Kyle's Hilltoppers racked up a school-record 255.72 points during their record-setting opening night to easily outdistance the Senators (0-2), who finished with a more than respectable 244.355 total.
    "This was a very good start for us," Kyle said, "especially when you consider it has been more than a year since our last match. There weren't a lot of people here tonight due to the safety protocols but this was still the first time a lot of our athletes were competing with more people in the gym than just me. I'm very happy to get this win and can't wait to move on."   
    West Liberty gave an indication of what was in store for the evening in the very first heat of the Compulsory event when the Hilltoppers posted a 9.20 off a 10-point start value. Not only was that two full points better than D&E's 7.20 in the heat, it was nearly a full point better than the previous school mark of 8.30 set just last year.
    In a sport where matches can be won and lost by tenths or even hundredths of a point, that was a fairly bold statement.
    "We made some mistakes we don't normally make in a couple of heats but when we hit our routines the way we're capable of hitting them, we put up big numbers," Kyle said. "If we can fix what we know we can fix, we can bring those scores up to where we want them to be."
    With scores of 9.5 or better in five of the 10 first-half heats, the Black and Gold opened up a comfortable 90.90-86.75 lead on the Senators at intermission. The 90.90 points marked the highest halftime score in school history.
    "I thought Theresa Evangelista and Sydney Schumacher really stood out in the 7-element Acro heat," Kyle said. "Those two have been working really well together and the 9.85 in that heat just shattered the old record (9.30). Then they turned right around in the very next heat (Pyramid inversion) and put up a 9.95. I think those were the two highest scoring heats of the meet."
    Davis & Elkins, coached by former WLU graduate assistant Mariah Ack, refused to let the Hilltoppers turn it into a runaway. The Senators dropped the Toss Event by just a 26.70-26.50 margin and came out on the short end of the Tumbling Event by a mere 48.750-47.375.
    That left West Liberty with a solid but not insurmountable 166.350-160.625 lead heading into the Team Event but the Hilltoppers answered the challenge with a school-record Team Event score of 89.37 to set the school's overall match scoring record and win going away.
    The Hilltoppers hit the road for three straight matches over a 10-day span beginning on Monday at West Virginia Wesleyan and Kyle likes the way the schedule worked out.
    "Having the condensed schedule due to the safety concerns should help us get back in the competitive groove," Kyle said. "The more often we compete, the faster we'll get used to it. With the matches closer together this year, we should be well enough conditioned to it that we'll be able to peak right at tournament time."
    Monday's match against West Virginia Wesleyan is set for a 6 p.m. start in Buckhannon.