Official NCATA Scoresheet
    FAIRMONT, W.Va. – No. 10-ranked Fairmont State's acrobatics and tumbling team rode a strong second half to a convincing victory against West Liberty here Sunday afternoon in a late-season showdown between the last two unbeaten squads in the Mountain East Conference.
    Coach Kelsey Kyle's Hilltoppers (4-3, 4-1) trailed just 93.50-91.65 at halftime but the host Falcons (6-1, 5-0) found another gear when the teams returned to the mats and pulled away to a 260.845-238.895 victory, outscoring the Black and Gold by 20 points over the final three events.
    While Fairmont State swept all six events on Sunday, the margins in the first-half events were excruciatingly close.
    The Falcons won every heat in the opening Compulsory Event but took just a narrow 36.75-36.20 lead into the next event as their winning margin in three of the Compulsory Event's four heats was just five-hundredths of a point.
    West Liberty battled back in the Acro Event, winning the 5-element heat and tying the 6-element heat, only to see Fairmont State do just enough in winning the 7-element heat to post another narrow decision in the Acro Event at 27.95-27.30.
    It was a similar story in the Pyramid Event that closed out the first half. The Hilltoppers won the inversion heat with a 9.80, their highest score of the day, but FSU bounced back to win the Synchronized and Open heats with identical 9.65 scores. That gave the Falcons their third straight event win, 28.80-28.15, but sent them into the second half with West Liberty less than two points off the lead.
    The Hilltoppers were hit with a major deduction in the open heat of the Toss Event to start the second half and the hosts took full advantage, posting a 25.45-17.45 win in the Toss Event to create the first significant separation of the afternoon on the overall match scoreboard.
    Fairmont State rode that momentum into the Tumbling Event, sweeping all six heats to effectively put the match out of reach. The Falcons closed that impressive run with a 9.80 in the open pass to finish with a winning Tumbling Event score of 53.375-46.725.
    That put FSU up by more than 16 points heading into the final Team Event and Fairmont State closed out its impressive second half surge with an 88.52-83.07 victory in Team to crack the 260-point barrier for the third consecutive match.
    West Liberty will be looking to clinch the No. 2 seed in the MEC Tournament for the second straight year on Saturday when the Black and Gold host Frostburg State in a mutual regular season finale. The match is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start inside the ASRC.