NASHVILLE, Tenn.  – The Mercyhurst STUNT team competed against No. 3 Cal Poly this afternoon in their second consecutive National Championship. The team narrowly fell to No. 4 Missouri State yesterday, 28-27. Mercyhurst and Cal Poly have never played each other before. Today, they met in the elimination bracket. The score was close for most of the game, but the Mustangs pulled away and won, 25-15. 
 
Mercyhurst (14-9) began the day with a prominent round one in the partner stunts quarter. They nailed routine seven and took a 2-1 lead. Cal Poly (12-6) proved to be a tough opponent early on. They won round two on routine two with a 2-1 scoreline. In round three, the Mustangs won 2-1 again, but the Lakers challenged. The challenge was unsuccessful and they lost a timeout. Routine one was chosen for the final round and Cal Poly won 2-1 again to make the score 7-5 after the first quarter. 
 
In the second quarter, Mercyhurst looked strong and had excellent timing in the beginning. Cal Poly chose routine seven for the second round and forced MU to forfeit. They did just enough to keep their number of errors under eight and earned the point for that round. The teams continued to share points and remain nearly in sync as the score was 11-8 at halftime. 
 
Cal Poly began the jumps and tumbling quarter with routine seven, which MU then forfeited. However, the Mustangs had a few slip-ups which resulted in no points being awarded. They remained strong and kept earning points with 2-1 score, calling a 30-second timeout to take a breather in the process. The Lakers salvaged a couple of points, and after three quarters, the score was 16-10.
 
Mercyhurst's pyramids and tosses showed out in routine two of the first round of the team routine quarter. Here, they won that portion of the round, 2-1. The Lakers took a timeout to gather their gameplan and try to hold off the Mustangs. Cal Poly continued to nail their routines and finished the game early by a score of 25-15.