Duquesne Acro & Tumbling Prepares To Face #1 Baylor

After a successful home and program opener, Duquesne Acrobatics & Tumbling returns to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse just over a month later having had three road meets.

Duquesne won two of those three meets with the second of those triumphs seeing a program best 254.215 mark come Feb. 22 at Missouri State.

The Dukes, in their first season have an almost entirely freshmen roster and evolved from trial and error from the down-and-back trip to West Liberty to have some first between the trip to Missouri and staying overnight in advance of a meet, which also came with a time zone difference.

The third opponent, Iona is ranked eighth and a program that is on the rise. This program also is the second toughest the Dukes will face this season.

“I think just pushing through adversity, not everything is going to go perfect on those road trips and you’re going to have those ups and downs but overcoming and then knowing even if things aren’t perfect, that trying to make perfect out of it,” Duquesne coach Michaela Soper revealed as the biggest lesson. “Our whole sport is based on perfection so still trying to reach for the highest score possible and put the best possible performance out there. I think we focused a lot on being clean this week, during practice I’m dropping some start values and sometimes that can be more rewarding. We’ve upped starting values in certain ways, we’re dropping other starting values back to try and put our whole meet together the way that we’re hoping to peak at the right time during the season. I think they are way more confident going out there and doing this stuff so I think we may see a little bit of a different aura when they go out there and compete.”

The toughest opponent Duquesne will face comes Tuesday night when it hosts #1 Baylor in the first of three home meets to conclude the regular season before the NCATA National Championships in South Dakota.

Undoubtedly Duquesne gained plenty of experience over the trio of meets. Soper likens the first meet to walking on water in the way that her team was doing the skills but did not fully grasp what exactly it was doing.

Now they are nitpicking and cleaning things up, both of which make a difference with two ranked opponents on the horizon.

It definitely is a balancing act for all involved as the roster is unafraid to nitpick with emotion across the face a sign of being hard on themselves. So Soper finds it important to understand the nature between being hard on them and understanding that sometimes in the question for perfection it can be unattainable.

The four meets thus far have also had an effect on the coaching staff as there is more certainty behind what deductions are being taken. At their disposal are certain heat summaries. This information combined with consistency in practice and overall gut feeling have allowed Soper to put her best lineup out there, especially with the focus over the last week being on being clean during heats.

“We look at every loss as a lesson, as a learning curve and I think this was not a necessary loss because of course you want to win, but a grounding loss where coming back from that, they know it’s not a walk in the park, they’re going to have to put the work in still, especially for an opponent like Baylor,” concluded Soper. “They feed off of doing very well and want to see the reaction from me, they want to know they’ve hit a landmark and that we’re turning certain corners to get even better through the season. I feed off them too and when they’re excited, we’re excited, so I think that helps with our overall team camaraderie.”