The Oregon acrobatic and tumbling team’s quest for a fourth-straight national championship will have to go through the one team and the one place they lost this season.

In the National Collegiate Acrobatic and Tumbling Association championship tournament, defending champion Oregon defeated Alderson-Broaddus and Baylor to advance to the finals to take on the host school and No. 2 seed Azuza Pacific University.

They showed up ready,” head coach Felicia Mulkey told GoDucks.com. “Our girls were relaxed and confident, and I’m really proud of the team. They were phenomenal.”

There is no lack of familiarity between the two teams in the final meet. Oregon and Azusa Pacific split the first two meets in the regular season. Azusa Pacific’s victory over Oregon in the final regular season meet of the season broke a 25-meet winning streak for the Ducks.

“It lit a fire under all of us,” junior base Tara Lubert said in the week following the loss. “We are so excited to go (back) down there.”

That fire has been on display so far through the first two stages of the championship meet. The Ducks have posted two of its top-three team scores on the season in back-to-back meets, including its highest total of the year against Baylor in the semi-finals.

Junior Nicole Erlichman, who was named the Most Outstanding Athlete in the NCATA on Thursday, had perfect scores in the six-element pass against both Alderson-Broaddus and Baylor.

Azusa Pacific defeated Gannon University and Qunnipiac University on its way to the championship finals.

The championship meet will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night at Azusa Pacific.

Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @jhoyt42