March 23, 2018
DALLAS—Everything is bigger in Texas, even in bowling scores as Vanderbilt happily learned during the first day of the Southland Bowling League Tournament.
The Commodores posted three of the tournament’s four scores over 1,000 pins and had the only total north of 1,100 in dominating No. 20 Louisiana Tech and fifth-ranked Sam Houston State.
Vanderbilt will play sixth-ranked Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the Advancer’s Bracket. The LadyJacks beat Monmouth and top-seeded Arkansas State in this double-elimination event.
“Today was a pretty good day for everybody,” Vandy coach John Williamson said. “The shot was there and we were confident.”
Confident and loose. Just ask veteran Jordan Newham, who played a key role in the win over Sam Houston after sitting out the opener.
“When you start off well it loosens everyone up and we were having fun,” the Illinois junior related. “We are all just having fun and enjoying the moment and that is a key. Everyone was really present in the settee, we weren’t worried about things.”
Indeed. The Commodores brushed back a competitive Tech team, leading wire-to-wire and gaining momentum as the elongated match wore on. The tournament format calls for a traditional team game, followed by a 5-game Baker set; if one team wins both, the match is over. If the teams split, a best of seven Baker match breaks the deadlock.
The sharp shooting Dores were the only team to win in two games against Tech. In the team game, Samantha Gainor led the way with a 223, Kristin Quah came in at 222 and Kelsey Abrahamsen added 209 in a 1,024-908 win.
In the Baker, the torrid Commodores had a stretch of 256-236-266 to bury the feisty Techsters. The rotation was Adel Wahner, Quah, Abrahamsen, Gainor and Maria Bulanova.
“For the most part we didn’t care what the opponent was doing,” Williamson said afterward. “I never got the sense in the settee that we had any nerves because of what the opponent was doing. That’s what we preach all the time, we are not playing the opponent, we are playing the lane and our job is to do the best we can do. We talked about having tunnel vision and today was hard to argue with what we did.”
The win over Sam Houston was similar in style – clean spare shooting and numerous runs of multiple strikes. In the team game, Quah was zeroed in with a 255, Bulanova had a 214 and the steady Gainor checked in with a 206 for a 180-pin win. The Baker victory margin exceeded 100 pins.
“I felt like I had my best day of the season,” Quah reasoned. “I was throwing it great, I felt really good although my spares were a little shaky at times. Today had an interesting dynamic; last week we had 11 in the settee and today we had six but I liked it because we were all engaged and able to focus on what was happening.”
Quah, the junior from Singapore, spoke to the team’s focus.
“The pattern was playable but you have to be making the shots to get it there,” she said. “We did what we were supposed to do, we got the ball to the right place and were rewarded to that.”
Vanderbilt had two first-year bowlers in the lineup the entire day but don’t try telling Williamson they are freshmen.
“Those two (Gainor and Abrahamsen) have proved they can make big shots. I don’t think of them as freshmen. They don’t perform like freshmen.”
The only strategic move of the day came when Vandy swapped Wahner for Newham to serve as lead-off in the second game. They both shined when given the floor.
“We brought six capable bowlers,” Williamson said. “This morning Jordan was a little off in the warmups and this afternoon Adel was a little off. This time of year we’re looking at who’s got the best hand.”
Gainor tends to let her bowling do her talking but she admitted it was an upbeat day.
“Everything felt good today,” the Michigan product said. “As a group we were confident. There wasn’t long stretches of poor bowling, we got right back on it if we had a down frame. I think the format is different and cool, it’s fun.”
Newham was also in agreement about sharing the duty.
“I was excited about the second match and was ok with not being in the lineup the first match because honestly I wasn’t throwing it well in warmups,” she said. “Everyone was bowling amazing so I wanted to be as supportive as possible the first game. When I got in the second game I was confident because I was throwing it well in practice and thought there was nothing to lose.”
Vanderbilt is the tournament’s defending champion and has won two of the league’s three titles. This year’s winner earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Championship field while several others from the potent league are expected to earn at-large berths based upon their season’s resume.
The action is being live-streamed by Inside Bowling and Vanderbilt’s YouTube/Facebook Live pages.
