April 9, 2008
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OMAHA, Neb. — The correct word around Vanderbilt’s bowling team this past year when talk turns to the 2008 NCAA Championship has been “repeat”, not “defend.”
That may seem to be a nuance to those outside the program but the Commodores realize their goal is to repeat as NCAA champion, not defend their 2007 title, which happened to be the first by any program in school history.
“This is a different year and a different team,” says Coach John Williamson. “We aren’t defending anything because we don’t have to. We have to go about our business the same way we did last year and if things break our way, we have as good a chance as we did a year ago.”
Indeed the Commodores carry a veteran squad to Omaha’s plush Thunder Alley, the state-of-the-art center for this year’s tournament.
Four full-time starters and six of the team’s 10 members were active parts of the winning formula last year in Apopka, Fla.
“That experience should be an asset,” Williamson says. “The atmosphere at the NCAA Championship is special, it’s exciting and it often has helped propel a team beyond its normal performance. The last two tournaments have had first-time finalists bowling on national television.”
The Commodores will take their entire 10-woman roster to Omaha, where practice rounds and check-in occur Wednesday afternoon.
A series of team games are played Thursday with total pin fall establishing the 1 through 8 seeding for Friday’s Baker games. Those Bakers are double-elimination and by the end of the day, it is likely only two teams will remain in contention. If three are still remaining, there will be a Round 5 game played Saturday at 4:30 p.m. to determine the finalist.
ESPNU will telecast the championship match live at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) on Saturday and ESPN2 will show a replay Monday, April 14 at 6:00 p.m. (CDT).
In addition, a live webcast of Rounds 1-4 will be available of Friday on www.ncaa.com. There will be a link on vucommodores.com to the webcast.
Friday’s first round begins at 9:30 a.m. (CDT) with round 2 at 11:20, round 3 at 3:30 and round 4 at 5:20. There will be two, four-team brackets in play.
Top-rated and tournament host Nebraska, Minnesota State-Mankato, Arkansas State and Central Missouri are the other Central Region teams appearing in the field while Maryland-Eastern Shore, runner-up to Vanderbilt last year, New Jersey City and Sacred Heart are the Northeast Region teams that qualified.
Vanderbilt is presently rated third nationally, the same position it was in last year heading to the nationals. The Commodores bowled in nine major tournaments, winning one and finishing second four times to compile an overall record of 77-25.