Jan. 26, 2010
READING, Pa. — Vanderbilt’s top rated bowling team begins its busy spring schedule Friday by making it’s first-ever appearance in the Kutztown Invitational. The Commodores have been idle through the holidays and early semester since winning two of three tournaments last fall.
“This is one of the biggest fields of the year in the country,” Coach John Williamson notes of the 28 participating teams. “We have been practicing for a couple of weeks in this new semester and expect to be ready for a lot of good competition.”
Vanderbilt will take eight women on its travel squad, led by All-Americans Josie Earnest and Brittni Hamilton, the latter holding the team’s best average (5 or more games) through the fall at 203.5 and three top five tourney finishes. Josie Earnest (195.1) had one top five and two top ten efforts during the fall.
Also representing the Black and Gold will be Amanda Halter, Ashley Belden, Jessica Earnest, Kim Carper, Kayla Rhoades and Brittany Garcia, making her first trip of the year.
All competition will be at the Hiester Lanes with five, 4-game Baker matches used for seeding purposes only starting Friday afternoon at noon (ET).
Saturday teams will be seeded into groups of seven with six traditional team games starting at 9:30 a.m. Sunday’s final day starts at 8:30 a.m. with two, 4-game Baker games. At this point, total pins over Saturday and Sunday will establish a bracket round with the best four-of-seven Baker games.
The list of competing teams includes: Adelphi, Bethune-Cookman, Cheyney, Central Missouri, Coppin State, Delaware State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Florida A & M, Hampton, Howard, Kutztown, Long Island, Medaille, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Morgan State, New Jersey City, Penn State-Altoona, North Carolina Central, Norfolk State, Sacred Heart, Southern, Stephen F. Austin, St. Francis (NY), St. Peter’s, SUNY IT, Valparaiso, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Vanderbilt.