PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio — The No. 2 seeded Vanderbilt bowling team kept its season alive Friday morning at the National Collegiate Bowling Championship, sweeping Arkansas State in the opening round at Yorktown Lanes.
Despite dropping the afternoon’s mega-match to top-seeded Jacksonville State, Vanderbilt will still play in Saturday morning’s elimination match due to the tournament’s double-elimination format.
“I feel like we had opportunities in the traditional game vs. Jax State,” head coach John Williamson said. “It was well-played by both teams, we just had a couple more errant shots. There are two or three shots I can think of that I’d love to have back. If we could have figured out a way to double in the 10th a couple of times and make a couple of shots in the middle, that would have been the difference. I think we started slow in the Baker, and then it kind of got away from us. I feel like we have a good idea of what needs to happen tomorrow. We just need to reset and regroup so we’re not carrying this over into tomorrow.”
Vandy had a slight lead over three-seed Arkansas State throughout the traditional game but kept things clean in the latter half to pull away and register a 1,018-910 win. Victoria Varano bowled a team-high 248 game, while Katelyn Abigania totaled 228 pins. Avery Domaguin and Natalie Kent posted respective scores of 202 and 201.
Moving to the Baker set, the Red Wolves came out swinging, stringing together five strikes in a row to start game 1. Despite two early open frames, Vandy recovered to shoot 224, trailing Arkansas State by 43 pins after the first game. The Dores responded with a streak of their own, striking the first nine frames of game 2, to win the game 276-222 and take a 500-489 lead. Vanderbilt remained consistent, utilizing all 10 of its student-athletes to post scores of 232, 233 and 203, clinching the Baker point and winning the mega-match.
The Dores and Gamecocks went shot for shot in the afternoon’s traditional game. All five Dores had games over 200 pins, including Domaguin, who struck the first seven frames, totaling 252 pins for the Dores. Kent contributed a 231, and Abigania scored 223 pins. Alyssa Ballard and Varano posted scores of 202 and 209, respectively. Despite the Vandy’s high scores, Jacksonville State’s won the traditional point, 1,139-1,119.
The Commodores could not overcome the Gamecocks’ momentum in the Baker set, which it dropped, 1,188-981.
Vanderbilt will play Wichita State in an elimination match Saturday morning at 8 a.m. CT on NCAA.com. The winner will move on to face Jacksonville State in the national championship final, which will be aired on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Fans can follow Vanderbilt bowling on Facebook, Instagram and X at @VandyBowling.
