Dores No. 2 Ahead of Championship Sunday

JONESBORO, Ark. — No. 2-ranked Vanderbilt bowling secured the No. 2 seed at the Mid-Winter Invitational behind a 4-0 Saturday in the second round of qualifying play.

“Overall, it was a very good day,” head coach John Williamson said. “We competed at a high level and our settee was engaged. We did a really good job of limiting mistakes today.”

The Commodores have two members in the top 10 individually, with freshman Sydney Bohn at No. 3 and junior Victoria Varano just behind at No. 7. Bohn generated scores of 227, 191, 227, 232 and 266 for a total of 1,143 and a 228.60 game average. Varano finished Saturday scoring 222, 247, 212, 200 and 226 for a 1,107 total pin count and a 221.40 game average.

Freshman Saphyre Nofuente sits just outside the top 10 at No. 12 with pin counts of 201, 224, 193, 246 and 211 for a 215.02 game average. Vanderbilt and top-ranked Nebraska are the only schools at the event with three players in the top 15.

Vandy began Saturday with a lineup of graduate student Isabel Allen, junior Alyssa Ballard, Varano, Nofuente and Bohn against No. 3-ranked Jacksonville State. The Dores rolled past the Gamecocks, 1,041-962. Bohn led the way with a team-high 227.

In Game 2, Vanderbilt faced No. 10-ranked Maryville, downing the Saints 1,039-991 behind a 247 from Varano.

After a Game 3 bye, the Commodores continued the momentum in Game 4 to bowl a 1,042 and win the modified tiebreaker over Sam Houston.

“I thought winning the Sam Houston match in the tiebreaker on the right lane was the highlight,” Williamson said. “We had a tiebreaker two weeks ago and didn’t handle it very well. This time we learned a little from that and had some quality shots on a very hard lane.”

The Commodores concluded the day with a matchup against No. 13 McKendree on lanes 27 and 28. Vanderbilt produced its highest scoring game of the invite thus far, a 1,162-977 route of the Bearcats. The 1,162 total pin count is the third highest match total across all teams over the weekend.

“We feel very confident in our look on the fresh lane conditions, so we’re excited about our opportunity to compete for a championship tomorrow,” Williamson said.

Vanderbilt again faces top seed Jacksonville State, with play set to begin at 8:10 a.m. on Sunday. The bracket for the final day’s matches is available online. Fans can watch the event on YouTube and follow Vanderbilt bowling on X and Instagram at @VandyBowling for updates.