Feb. 27, 2016
NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ—Third ranked Vanderbilt had its game in high gear when it mattered and went unbeaten Saturday, vaulting to the top of the standings at the Monmouth Hawk Flight Invite.
The Commodores won all four of their team matches and with one more team game on tap to open Sunday’s play, they have five of the tournament’s top 15 individuals to show their balance.
“These are high scoring lanes and after yesterday there are no questions about how to play them,” said Coach John Williamson. “We were able to execute and due to some circumstances were able to play three games on essentially fresh oil. We were repeating shots.”
Vandy’s finale had the familiar down-beat ring of Friday when it moved to the low-scoring pair on the end of the facility, lanes that had four games played on them. Whereas yesterday the lanes produced a meager 930, today’s result was 923. Despite the score 200 pins lower than other games, Vanderbilt was able to win each game.
“To illustrate the impact of those last lanes,” Coach Williamson pointed out, “we had five open frames the entire day until getting there and we had 10 opens in one game. Still I was pleased because we were down nearly 60 pins to Caldwell and came back with the help of Kris (Quah) and Jordan (Newham), who each struck out in the 10th frame.”
Sunday’s opening game will feature the top two teams in the tournament as VU plays Sam Houston State. A Vandy win would push the `Dores into a two-game bracket at the top seed and a setback would have the Black and Gold as the No. 2 seed in a 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 Baker set-up.
Quah is in fourth place individually with a 233 average with Robyn Renslow seventh, Newham eighth, Amanda Fry 14th and Giselle Poss 15th.
Play begins at 7:55 a.m. CST and is livestreamed on Cube.
