Jan. 13, 2013
JONESBORO, Ark. – Vanderbilt breezed through its bracket opener, lost a hard-fought match that would have put the Commodores in the title game and then lost its edge in the consolation final to finish fourth at the Mid-Winter Classic Sunday.
The day began on a bright note, dispensing No. 9 Wisconsin-Whitewater by a 4-1 margin in the best of seven Baker games. That led to a quality match with Nebraska, one the Huskers won, 4-2, despite Vandy putting up scores of 191-233-231-263-226 and 195. (The 263 score actually lost to NU’s 290)The defeat put the Commodores into the third place match against host Arkansas State, exiting with a dismal 4-1 loss.
“We bowled well enough to beat Nebraska but we didn’t,” Coach John Williamson said afterward. “We have a young group and we let our disappointment carry into the Arkansas State game, where we bowled and acted like we were basically not interested in being there. That is a very frustrating place to be; I expect more from them and they expect more from themselves We had nearly as many opens as fills with that closing 140 score.
We simply must learn to put our disappointment away sooner,” Williamson continued. “Most other sports have the luxury of having 24 or 48 hours to regroup but in bowling you often have 20 minutes. If this was the NCAA Championship, our season would be over. We have a young group and we will learn from this.”
Vanderbilt played a rotation that included three freshmen – Amanda Fry, Tori Ferris and Robyn Renslow along with sophomore Natalie Goodman and senior Jessica Earnest. Williamson thought Ferris, the least-bowled of this quintet, “held her own” in the intense competition.
Nebraska upset No. 1 rated Central Missouri in the championship game, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to take the title. Complete statistics are found on the attachment.
Vanderbilt has two weeks to iron out the wrinkles before heading to Pennsylvania for the Kutztown Invitational.
