WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The No. 15 ranked West Liberty University acrobatics & tumbling team earned its first win of the season in a conference-opening triumph that came down to the final event over Glenville State, 249.410 - 248.805.

All six events were decided by two points or less. West Liberty (1-2, 1-0) jumped ahead early with narrow wins in the compulsory, acro, and pyramid events claiming a 90.250 - 87.550 at the half.

The compulsory pyramid highlighted the first half by setting a new program record with a 9.80 featuring Avery Ray, Sarah Le, Savannah Turner-Davis, Hanna Kalwarski, Abbey Horvath, and Gillian Hartz on the right, along with Kayla Gandy, Abbey Swinderman, Peyton Fry, Chloe Palmer, Paige McGlothlin, and Paige Lawrence on the left.

The Hilltoppers also posted season-bests in the toss (9.30) and tumbling (8.25) heats of the opening compulsory event to help build the early lead. They added more season-highs in the first two heats of the acro event with a 9.30 in the five element and 9.10 in the six element. WLU closed out the opening half with another stretch of three 9's in the pyramid for the third straight meet to start the season.

Glenville State (1-2, 1-2) took its first lead of the afternoon with a 27.25 - 24.15 edge in the toss event to go up by 0.4 (114.4 - 114.8) heading into the final individual event.

In tumbling, the Hilltoppers scored a 48.750 and regained the lead, outscoring the Pioneers by nearly two points, the largest margin of any event in the meet. Glenville State scored higher in both the duo and trio pass, but then West Liberty finished with four-straight strong performances to get back in front heading to the team event.

Caitlin Lowery, Elle Godby, Paige McGlothlin, and Avery Ray got the stretch going with a 7.650 quad pass, over 1.5 points higher than their GSU competitors.

Kayla Gandy followed with a 9.050 in the aerial pass, her second straight meet with a 9-plus in the heat. Then, Audrey Prater and Gillian Hartz closed out the tumbling section with scores of 8.575 in the six element pass and 8.875 in the open pass, respectively.

West Liberty led by less than two points with the team event remaining. Glenville State was coming off a 90.63 in its season opening team event, while WLU has averaged an 82.125 across two meets leading into Sunday.

The Pioneers went first and had a solid performance scoring 87.18, setting the stage for the Black and Gold. The Hilltoppers answered the call and posted an early season-best 86.26 in the team event to secure the meet win by less than half a point.

West Liberty will be back in action next Sunday wrapping up a three-meet homestand against Stevenson University at 2 pm inside the ASRC.

Follow the Hilltoppers all season long online at HilltopperSports.com, as well as on Twitter (@WLU_AcroTumb, @WLathletics), Instagram (@wlu_acrotumb, @wlu_athletics), and Facebook.

Post-Meet Interview

Head Coach Kelsey Kyle & Kayla Gandy