WACO, Texas - The Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling team will spend its spring break competing against the nation's best within four days starting Monday, March 8 versus Azusa Pacific at 8:30 p.m. CT in Azusa, Calif., then on Thursday, March 12 against Oregon at 8:30 p.m. CT in Eugene, Oregon.

"I've done the spring break trip as a coach every year, and it's definitely a test of your endurance. It will tell us a lot. If we were to make it all the way to the national championship meet, we would have to compete twice in one day. So in my opinion, this is a buildup to that," head coach Felecia Mulkey said. "We're up against the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the country on their home courts and they are very tough competition. We just have to go in and execute and do what we know we can do. We've changed some things around a little bit because we've needed to change personnel and start values. We're going to do everything we can to score higher than everybody else, but we have yet to see the best Baylor team, which is exciting."

The No. 3 Cougars of Azusa Pacific University (1-1) opened up the season with a loss to Oregon on Feb. 4 281.480-275.100. APU then bounced back on Feb. 17 to defeat Hawai'i Pacific 283.760-278.930. The No. 1 Oregon Ducks (3-0) have proven their ranking, defeating APU on Feb. 4, Concordia University Wisconsin on Feb. 21 275.490-239.815 and Quinnipiac on March 1 274.315-264.065.

"I'm excited to go up against Azusa Pacific and Oregon because you get better when you compete against the best. It'll be exciting to go back home (to Oregon) because I have a lot of friends there," Mulkey said. "I have a lot of respect for the girls and coaching staff of that program, so it's always easier for me to compete when you have that respect for the team across the mat. I have the upmost respect for that program because of what they've been through. APU is also very well coached and established. As I said, you get better when you compete against the best, which will hopefully bring us to new heights."

The Bears (3-0) go into this trip with three-straight victories in two meets. BU opened the season on Feb. 7 with wins at home in a tri-meet over Quinnipiac and Concordia University Wisconsin (BU: 262.405, QU: 253.590, CUW: 212.34). The Bears then traveled to Bristol, Tenn. on Feb. 21, where - after a weather delay - they defeated King 276.595-250.795.

"We were actually able to make changes because their confidence levels are coming up. That's the most fun thing about coaching for me: seeing their confidence levels go up. Three months ago I would never have put some of them in this position," Mulkey said. "They aren't afraid to step out of the box and approach us saying, `Hey I can do this.' For me, we are able to make the changes because of the confidence. Of course there is going to be a little bit of anxiety when you put something new out there, but we do everything that we can to make them comfortable."

Live streaming for both meets will be available. Streaming for the meet versus APU is public pay-per-view for $7.95: Live Stream. Live streaming for the Oregon meet is free: Live Stream.

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