Many Bobcats have migrated south to warmer weather for spring break. However, the Quinnipiac acrobatics and tumbling team decided to bring the heat to Hamden as it defeated the West Liberty University Hilltoppers by a final score of 273.430-235.585.

The Bobcats (1-2) were able to complete a clean sweep of the Hilltoppers (2-4), winning every single heat and every single event on the day. The 37.845 victory margin is the most for the Bobcats since they routed King University back on March 3, 2018 by a 29.375 margin.

[media-credit name=”Morgan Tencza” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The Bobcats were able to get the win despite having 15 players diagnosed with the flu following their loss to the Baylor Bears on Feb. 24.

“Really proud of them, we had some major hurdles,” Quinnipiac head coach Mary Ann Powers said. “We had to change the working parts. Three quarters of what you just saw out there was put together last night…after not practicing for almost a full week, six days.”

The flu allowed some freshmen to step up and let their presence be felt for the Bobcats. Freshman top Lilliana Lucchese stepped into the fourth heat of the tumbling event and tallied a 9.275 to win the heat for the Bobcats.

Another Bobcat who had a solid day was junior top Karen Defilippo. She won both of her heats in the pyramid event scoring a 9.70 in heat one and a 9.85 in heat three. She flies under the radar (no pun intended) because she is the team’s pyramid specialist, according to Powers.

“Karen is the voice of calm, and Karen is consistent,” Powers said. “I don’t ever think ‘Oh my god that kid’s not going to hit.’ I go in knowing she’s going to hit.”

The Bobcats were able to get their first win of the season after starting out 0-2, dropping meets to both the Oregon Ducks and the Baylor Bears. Heading into the meets, the Ducks had one meet under their belt and the Bears had two.

Despite this, Powers feels that it’s no excuse for the team, and that it’s their job to take down the top teams.

“I guess if you find those disadvantages, you’re kind of making excuses for yourself, so I don’t like to go there,” Powers said. “I think we went up against the giants, but I mean they are the giants and it’s our goal to be David and take that crap down, right?”

The Bobcats have a quick turnaround as they look ahead to a meet on Thursday, March 14 down in Bristol, Tennessee. with the King University Tornado. The two teams squared off for the first time back during the 2014-15 season when the Bobcats were still the “women’s gymnastics” team.

Quinnipiac is 3-0 all time against King University. 2-0 against the Tornado on the road, with one of those wins coming from a tri-meet with the Alderson Broaddus Battlers in Philippi, WV, and 1-0 at home.

“I expect us to keep going up, and up, and up,” junior base Megan Hamel said. “We’re just going to keep climbing that ladder and I expect us to do nothing less and keep doing more.”