Jan. 20, 2017
READING, PA—Vanderbilt came into the Kutztown Invitational hoping to maintain the momentum it gained from its finish at last weekend’s Mid-Winter Classic and a quick review of the first day’s scoresheet would indicate that goal was achieved.
The sixth-ranked Commodores pounded the pins at the Hiester Lanes with half of its six game scores over 1,100 en route to a first place standing in the 28-team field. Along the way, Vandy defeated three teams ranked in the Top 10 while going 5-1 over the long day of Baker bowling.
“It was definitely a day in the right direction,” said assistant coach Josie Earnest. “Teams don’t get an opportunity to practice the day ahead of this tournament so we were pleased to get off to a good start and then make some correct adjustments on the fly. With six matches this is one of the longest tournament days of the year (nearly eight hours!) and while we tried, I think we lost focus to some degree in the last game.”
Earnest liked what she saw from several individuals but mentioned a pair of freshmen, anchor Maria Bulanova and Adel Wahner, handling the two hole.
“When we total up Maria’s numbers I’m sure they will be very good,” Earnest said, “and Adel had just one missed makeable and at times had to play parts of the lane that are not typically her “A” game.”
Among Vandy’s Friday victims were 18th ranked Adelphi, No. 7 rated Fairleigh Dickinson and 10th rated Maryland-Eastern Shore along with unranked Howard and host Kutztown. It’s lone loss was a competitive 1,024-1,001 contest with No. 12 Delaware State.
The Commodores stuck with the same lineups they used last week, a rotation of Jordan Newham, Wahner, Kristin Quah, Giselle Poss and Bulanova. Midway through the day Katie Stark went in for Newham.
Team games begin Saturday at 8:30 CST. Live streaming is found on the cube.com/Vanderbilt bowling.
