WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The No. 15 ranked West Liberty University acrobatics & tumbling team cruised to a 246.655 - 198.320 victory over visiting Stevenson Sunday afternoon inside the ASRC for its second straight win.

The Hilltoppers (2-2) got ahead 36.45 - 27.15 after the opening compulsory event and never looked back. West Liberty won 18 of the 19 heats and outscored the Mustangs, who move to 1-1 on the young season, in all six events.

West Liberty scored over a nine in eight of the 10 first half heats to take a commanding 91.70-69.80 lead into the break.

The Hilltoppers bookended the compulsory event with season-highs, a 9.25 in the acro heat and an 8.30 in the tumbling heat. 

Another season-best mark was set in the six element heat of the acro event with a 9.25. The six element featured Avery Ray and Kayla Gandy on top of the two groups, while Paige McGlothlin and Sarah Le served as bases for Ray and Abbey Horvath and Katie Emborsky provided the base for Gandy.

West Liberty closed out the opening half scoring at least a 9.15 in all three pyramid heats for the fourth straight meet to start the season. The inversion pyramid featuring Gandy up top, Abbey Swinderman at mid, Chloe Palmer and Peyton Fry at base, McGlothlin at tosser, and the trio of Horvath, Paige Lawrence, and Emborsky catching, tied a season-high with a 9.30.

Out of the break, the Hilltoppers added on to their lead with a two-point edge in toss and nearly a 10-point margin in tumbling before closing the meet with a 78.88 in the team event, outscoring the Mustangs' 64.52 performance.

West Liberty posted season-bests in each of the first two heats back from halftime, an 8.85 in the 450 Salto and an 8.20 in the synchronized toss. The start value went up in the Salto Toss and the Hilltoppers delivered, as the group of Gandy (top), Emborsky (base), Hanna Kalawarski (base), Horvath (back), and Audrey Prater (front) completed a back full toss, up from a back layout toss earlier this season. In the synchronized toss Gillian Hartz stepped in on top of the left side and did not miss a beat helping lead the Black and Gold to its best mark of the year so far.

The season-highs continued to fall, setting new ones in four of the six tumbling heats. Gandy and Hartz added a whip to 1.5 in the duo pass and scored an 8.40. Sara Le was in action in the quad pass for the first time this year alongside Elle Godby, McGlothlin, and Ray, as the group scored a 8.25 out of 8.50. Gandy starred in the aerial pass with her best outing yet, posting a 9.35 out of 9.60. The 10th season-best score of the day was recorded in the open pass behind a new skill from Hartz completing another whip to 1.5 for a 9.025 out of 9.40.

The meet finished a three-meet homestand for the Hilltoppers, as they are set to spend the whole month of March on the road competing in four meets. First up, a trip to nationally ranked Frostburg State on Friday at 6 pm. The Black and Gold will be back home in the final meet of the regular season, a tri-meet versus Fairmont State and Davis & Elkins on April 2.

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

West Liberty University will be hosting the NCATA National Championships on April 27-30 inside the ASRC. Ticketing and more information will be available soon. Follow the NCATA online at thencata.org or on social media @thencata for all the latest information.

Post-Meet Interview with Head Coach Kelsey Kyle & Gillian Hartz