Commodores finish fourth in Wisconsin

Nov. 13, 2016

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KENOSHA, WI—Vanderbilt gave it the old college try as Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Warhawk Classic was being decided Sunday but in the end, the basic script was similar to last week as the Commodores finished fourth in the field of 17.

The Black and Gold won the day’s first game but couldn’t find the answers in the next two. Vandy, the tourney’s No. 4 seed, faced three-seeded Nebraska to begin the morning and the Commodores ran away with a quick and convincing 4-0 victory in the best of seven Bakers. The lineup was Jordan Newham, Adel Wahner, Katie Stark, Giselle Poss and Maria Bulanova.

The fast win meant an extended wait for the semi-final game to begin as all games in a given round must end before the next round starts. The Commodores’ momentum seemed to slip away during the wait as McKendree, the tourney’s No. 2 seed coming off a loss to Arkansas State, jumped out quickly and won, 4-1.

As was the case last week at Sam Houston’s tournament, the bracket worked out for a fast rematch with Nebraska for third place. The Huskers took a 2-0 lead but Vanderbilt battled back to even the match. It came down to Game 7, which Nebraska won 216-196 for third place.

“We played better today in the last game than we did last week,” said Coach John Williamson. “The biggest issue in our McKendree game was getting down 20 pins or more in the first two frames. You can’t spot a team producing that kind of pin count that much so we have to figure out how to get off to quicker starts.

“The second game with Nebraska got off to a rough start but I thought the last five games were pretty good,” Williamson said. He noted a shuffled rotation of Stark, Emily Rigney, Wahner, Poss and Bulanova closed well.

Arkansas State beat McKendree in the championship match.

The team has a late flight out of Chicago so with some time to fill, the Commodores are stopping by Wrigley Field – home of the World Champion Cubs – and armed with chalk plan to leave some congratulatory messages on the surrounding bricks.

The Commodores conclude the fall semester portion of their schedule Dec. 2-4 at the Tulane Invitational.