Bowlers move into second

Jan. 14, 2012

JONESBORO, Ark. – Powered by Jessica Earnest’s second place individual finish, Vanderbilt’s bowling team moved up the leaderboard one notch and finished the day in second place with Championship Sunday remaining at the Mid-Winter Classic.

The Commodores won three games while dropping two traditional team games while nearly all eyes were on pin count, which established the pecking order for tomorrow’s Baker game bracket. Host Arkansas State has led the tournament nearly wire-to-wire and was one of Vanderbilt’s two Saturday losses.

The Commodores will get a quick rematch with the Red Wolves as the two top seeds will square off in the first game of tomorrow’s championship bracket. Central Missouri and Nebraska are the 3-4 seeds in the title bracket.

Once again the `Dores got off to a sluggish start Saturday, losing to a top-rated Valparaiso team that struggled Friday. The difference boiled down to a strong Crusader finish while the Black and Gold sputtered in the decisive ninth frame.

“We had five missed makeable spares against Valpo,” Coach John Williamson noted, “but we cleaned it up after that and only had five missed makeables the rest of the day.”

Rebounding nicely, Vandy won a spirited game with Alabama A & M, then topping Stephen F. Austin and Central Missouri before ending the day with the loss to Arkansas State. In the showdown of the two top pin fall teams, Vanderbilt started out red-hot but was its lead erode in the latter frames.

“We caught some breaks at the beginning that we didn’t get at the end,” Williamson said, “and Arkansas State had about the reverse.”

Earnest crafted consecutive games of 204-244-214-223-221 to get her spring semester off to a rousing start. She finished second in individual standings to Amanda Labossiere of Arkansas State, who averaged a torrid 239. Vanderbilt All-American Brittni Hamilton finished sixth with her 205.6 average.

“Jess had a very consistent day,” Williamson noted. “The thing I liked the best was when she had a little bit of adversity she adjusted quickly, shook it off and as a result any trouble was contained to a frame or two at most.”

Freshman Nicole Mosesso was in the original starting lineup, responding with an excellent 225 against Valparaiso but Williamson feared she was tiring and thinking ahead to tomorrow’s decisive day, chose the cautious route and sat her down after three games.

Team Leaderboard (16 teams)

Arkansas State 10,218
Vanderbilt 9,784
Central Missouri 9,726
Nebraska 9,543

Saturday’s Results

Valparaiso 1,021 VU 962

Hamilton 180
Mosesso 225
Goodman 182
Earnest 204
Hesley 171

VU 1,033 Alabama A & M 989

Hamilton 203
Mosesso 190
Goodman 203
Earnest 244
Hesley 193

VU 988 Stephen F. Austin 880

Hamilton 214
Mosesso 155
Goodman 193
Earnest 214
Hesley 212

VU 1,017 Central Missouri 972

Hamilton 208
Reguero 210
Goodman 167
Earnest 223
Hesley 209

Arkansas State 1,061 VU 994

Hamilton 223
Reguero 171
Goodman 174
Earnest 221
Hesley 205