March 25, 2016
KENNER, LA—Vanderbilt overcame challenging lanes conditions to grind out a 4-1 victory over Stephen F. Austin and advance to Saturday morning’s semi-final match at the Southland Bowling League Championship Friday.
“Today wasn’t our best day but we didn’t make too many unforced mistakes and for the most part we were able to execute,” said Coach John Williamson.
The Commodores opened their day with a narrow win over seventh-seeded Valparaiso, needing a modified Baker of five extra frames, to advance into the second round.
Using a rotation of Giselle Poss, Jordan Newham, Tori Ferris, Kristin Quah and Robyn Renslow, Vandy was inconsistent in losing, 4-1 to Sam Houston State. The loss dropped the Commodores into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination bracket.
In the afternoon session, Vandy used the same five women but moved Renslow into the third spot, dropping Ferris into the four-hole and having the freshman Quah anchor. She didn’t disappoint. Vanderbilt eliminated Monmouth, 4-1, despite the absence of strikes on the tricky pattern.
The win pushed the `Dores into the quarter-final against Stephen F. Austin. Behind the excellent anchoring by Quah and a strong effort from Newham, Vandy won the first game of the best-of-seven, dropped Game 2 after SFA opened with the front four and from there on scrapped out two close wins and finished one game with a five-bagger.
The Commodores will now play No. 1 rated and top-seeded Arkansas State Saturday at 9:30 for the right to play unbeaten Sam Houston for the championship at noon. Should the team coming out of the loser’s bracket top Sam Houston, there will be another game played immediately following.
Williamson was pleased with his team’s overall balance, noting that the five bowlers all had frame averages equating between 186-190, better than the overall tourney average.
“We made 55 out of 56 single pin spares,” he said. “We did a much better job in the afternoon session understanding and executing. The shot was scoreable but certainly not easy and the lanes were dramatically different from side to side.”
Williamson played a line-up of right-handers, explaining that with a limited number of games in the tournament and the lanes being reoiled after two games, things were more consistent on the right side.
Games are being live streamed on InsideBowling.com.
