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Bowlers Drop Matches to Huskers, Minnesota State 11/21/2004
Bowlers Drop Matches to Huskers, Minnesota State MANKATO, Minn. — For the third straight day, Vanderbilt bowlers lost matches to Minnesota State-Mankato and Nebraska. The Commodores lost to Minnesota State, 895-666 and to Nebraska, 964-686. Kim Simpson’s debut was Sunday’s bright spot for Vanderbilt. The senior had games of 181 and 164. “Call it a learning experience,” Coach John Williamson said. “We have a lot of time before our next competition (January 15, Southern Invitational in Baton Rouge) and we will work to improve during that time. We had way too many open frames here but it was the first event in our program’s history and I suspect that affected our performance.” Day Two MANKATO, Minn. – Vanderbilt lost twice Saturday to Minnesota State-Mankato and Nebraska as its novice bowling team continues to learn and experience NCAA competition. “We were once again very inconsistent in our games,” Coach John Williamson said. “We would have two women bowl well and three would be off their game, then the next match we might have three bowl well and two others were struggling. This is the mark of a young team. I think we will look back upon this experience as we prepare for our spring schedule and realize this competition was a big help.” Williamson said that Jessica Tower and Brittany Jackson were his two most consistent performers on the second day of the three day competition. “Our last game of the afternoon was probably our best overall effort and that was against Nebraska,” Williamson noted. A bright note for Vanderbilt tomorrow will be the first appearance of Kim Simpson. The Clarksville, Tenn., senior was forced to sit out two days of competition by the NCAA because she had won a small amount of money in a bowling event several years ago, never thinking she would one day be a part of a varsity team. Simpson had the top average last year on Vanderbilt’s club bowling team. Williamson pointed out that the Nebraska coaching staff and team have gone out of their way to be friendly and helpful to his new squad. After the afternoon matches, the Commodore team boarded the Huskers’ team bus and the teams spent the evening at the giant Mall of America in the nearby Twin Cities. Competition concludes tomorrow. Day One MANKATO, Minn. — Vanderbilt’s new bowling team made its debut Friday afternoon, losing a pair of matches against host Minnesota State-Mankato and defending national champion Nebraska. The Commodores dropped their opener against Minnesota State, 745-655. Five individual scores are combined to determine the team’s score. Therese Griner, a senior from St. Louis, led Vanderbilt with a 141 while Jennifer Redmond added a 132. Others competing for Vanderbilt were Kristen Walker, Brittany Jackson and Jessica Tower. As expected, Nebraska held a wide margin over the Commodores, winning 977-593. Griner again led Vanderbilt with a 155. Freshman Ashleigh Beamer was added to the Commodore lineup for this match along with Tower and Walker. “I suppose we had some jitters since this was our first competition,” Coach John Williamson said. “We didn’t do what we needed to do to win, especially in our match with Minnesota State. We converted just under 25% of our spares, for example. We are inexperienced but we are capable of more.” Vanderbilt will compete against the same two teams Saturday and Sunday. The Commodore team was established in September with a dozen walk-ons from the student body. |
