Egg Harbor, NJ—Vanderbilt scored its first tournament victory of the season Sunday, cruising to the championship of the Hawk Flight Invite without a serious challenge.
The Commodores, a perfect 12-0 over the weekend, won a pair of Baker games by identical 4-1 scores in the best-of-seven play. They defeated Sam Houston for the second time in two days in the semi-final and Delaware State for the championship.
While the scores might suggest otherwise, there were some game-changing moments.
“There were definitely some key situations when we needed a shot and we got them,” Adel Wahner said afterward. “Some games were closer than they appeared. It is nice to have that winning feeling coming home, the feeling that we accomplished what we set out to do.”
When outcomes are rolling in the right direction, Vanderbilt tends to stick to its lineup and Sunday was no exception. Its rotation was Wahner, Jordan Newham, Samantha Gainor, Kristin Quah and Maria Bulanova, who regained her usual form for the stretch run.
“Winning the tournament was icing on the cake,” said coach John Williamson. “Our focus was trying to win each game we played and nice we were able to close it out.”
Williamson was especially pleased with the way the team responded when Delaware State began to threaten in what would become the last game of the day, 256-228. The Commodores came through with seven straight strikes from the fourth frame through the first ball in the 10th to put the high-scoring game away.
One subtle decision the Vandy staff had to make was how to pass the time after putting away Sam Houston State until the championship match. In most tournaments the team advancing into the title game plays the last-place team to get an even, competitive edge, otherwise a team can lose focus. In this case, with an uneven number of teams there was not an opportunity for such a match.
“We had 20 minutes of practice in-between,” Williamson said. “We tried to get comfortable with how we anticipated the lanes would play.”
The tournament title was Vandy’s first since winning the Southland Bowling League last year and the first regular season championship since taking the Kutztown Invitational Jan. 22, 2017. It was the second time in three seasons that Vanderbilt has won Monmouth’s tournament.
The Commodores, now 77-38 on the year, close out their regular season in two weeks by hosting the Columbia 300 Music City Classic at the Smyrna Bowling Center, a tournament that in recent years has drawn the largest field in NCAA bowling. Admission to that event is free.
