Keily MVP as Bowlers Finish Third

Nov. 12, 2006

Whitewater, WI—Mandy Keily of Vanderbilt averaged 205.77 pins over 13 games to win the individual championship and earn Most Valuable Player honors at the Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational, which concluded Sunday. She topped second place Cassie Leuthold of Nebraska by over a five and a half pin average.

As a team, the No. 4 rated Commodores staged a significant rally to close the gap on front-running Farleigh Dickinson and Nebraska but couldn’t quite make up the difference and placed third, 95 pins behind top-rated FDU and just 14 in back of the Huskers. Vanderbilt won all five of its matches Sunday to finish 9-3 for the weekend, although total pin fall was the criteria to crown the champion.

Keily, a sophomore southpaw from Brighton, Colo., became just the second Vanderbilt individual to capture a tournament title. Last fall Tara Kane captured the Arkansas State championship. Keily (pronounced Kiley) was red-hot Saturday, bolting to the lead and maintained that advantage through Sunday’s action.

“Mandy had her shot the entire weekend and she was able to execute it,” said Coach John Williamson. “As the tournament went on she gained a lot of confidence. She did an excellent job bowling with the lead. She was very comfortable dealing with her individual position while at the same time our team was striving to win the title.”

Keily said she was able to stay focused throughout thrree long days of competition.

“This was pretty much a tournament of endurance and I wasn’t going to let my position go to my head,” Keily said after the event. “Last year I was first at Alabama going into the last day and ended up placing second. I just wasn’t going to think about where I stood; rather, I concentrated on taking my time on each shot. I didn’t look at standings and I realized it wasn’t over until it was really over so I stayed tough through the last ball.”

Williamson was encouraged by his team’s steady performance and final day rally on the difficult, sport-shot lane conditions.

“We were the only team among the leaders that didn’t have a break-out game or streak,” he said, “and we were consistent the entire weekend. Still, we were in contention to win in the last game without any particular good luck. We were pretty much at our average. We were never totally clicking as a team, never had a game where our five put it together. When that happens we are difficult to defeat.”

Michelle Peloquin had another strong tournament, placing sixth with a 194.83 average. Karen Grygiel was next for the Commodores, finishing 11th at 189.9 while Josie Earnest, in her first collegiate tournament, was 14th at 186. Tara Kane averaged 182 to place 24th. Kaitlin Reynolds bowled six games, averaging 181.5 while Ashley Belden was in three games and averaged 182.

The Commodores will travel to the Hawk Classic at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Final Team Standings

Team Pins-Avg-Wins-Losses
Farleigh Dickinson 13,461-962-11-1
Nebraska 13,372-955-6-6
Vanderbilt 13,356-954-9-3
Minnesota State 12,629-902-4-8
Whitewater 12,597-900-7-5
Arkansas State 12,224-873-4-8
Elmhurst 11,095-793-1-11

Sunday’s VU Results

VU 942 Whitewater 918
Josie Earnest 190
Mandy Keily 194
Karen Grygiel 190
Tara Kane 145
Michelle Peloquin 223

VU 905 ASU 855
Earnest 211
Keily 165
Grygiel 179
Kane 180
Peloquin 170

VU 968 Nebraska 882
Earnest 168
Keily 232
Grygiel 227
Peloquin 176
Kaitlin Reynolds 165

VU 962 Elmhurst 827
Earnest 199
Keily 225
Grygiel 184
Reynolds 189
Ashley Belden 165

VU 964 Minneosta-Mankato 953
Earnest 200
Keily 203
Grygiel 187
Kane 181
Peloquin 193